How Did We Get Here?
by mikaylaxsalvatore
Summary: What happens when someone close to the Marauders gets sent into the future? Enjoy the tale of love, life, and the struggle to change the future.
1. Welcome Back

**_Summary:_** This story is about the lives of Sirius Black, Ashley Benedettis, James Potter, Lily Evans, Remus Lupin, and other supporting characters. What happens when one of the main characters is sent into the future? Can they change it or will they be forced to watch it happen all over again? And enjoy the subplots revolving around life, school, and love.

_**Welcome Back**_

Ashley scanned the area of Kings Cross Station for a familiar face. She didn't see anybody, but before she knew it, she was in midair. This was so typical. "Sirius - Must you do this every year?"

"Ashley - Must you ask that every year?" Sirius joked back.

"Planning on putting me down?" Ashley asked, trying to push the hair out of her face.

"Nope, never," Sirius replied with a smile.

Ashley sighed. "You're impossible, Padfoot!"

Finally, Sirius put her down. "How was your summer?" he asked.

"All right, I guess. Still not used to Jessica and Josh being gone, but hey - going from 12 kids to 10 makes _such_ a big decrease," Ashley replied sarcastically. Ashley was from a family of 12 kids, and Sirius envied that a lot, and Ashley knew it. "You know, you're always invited to come by in the summers."

"Thanks, Flames. I normally crash at James' though, you know that. Gotta keep Prongsie some company," Sirius said with a wink, " So - Ready to find a compartment?" he asked. Flames was Ashley's nickname because she took the Animagus form of a Phoenix.

"Sorry! I said I'd meet Mikey!" Ashley said.

"You're still seeing that prick?" Sirius demanded.

"Sirius, would you stop trying to protect me all the time! I love Michael, okay?" Ashley said indignantly.

"How can you still love him after all that prat has put you through?" Sirius questioned.

"He's changed! He said Rhiannon may have used a lovespell on him!" Ashley said, stomping her foot.

"And what about Bianca?" Sirius asked, looking at her fiercely.

"Well - He admits that was a big mistake!" Ashley defended herself.

"Okay, then answer me this last question. If he cheated on you with Bianca, how do you know he didn't just lie about Rhiannon? Guys like him don't change overnight," Sirius told her.

"_Guys like him?_ You're one to talk, Sirius! Last year you slept with about 5 fourth years, twelve sixth years, and seven seventh years, correct?" Ashley said angrily.

"You think I'd do that if I had a steady girlfriend?" Sirius said, just as angrily.

"Ever think that's _why_ you don't have a steady girlfriend? I know plenty of girls who would like a serious relationship from you, but they know of how you sleep with every girl that waves at you! And you had a steady girlfriend two years ago! Remember dear Charlotte Caminoa? You dated her for almost five months and ended up sleeping with Melanie Trentini **_and_** Haylen Brown!" Ashley said bitterly.

"Hello guys! Uh - What's wrong?" said the voice of Remus. Ashley wiped at the tear that formed and ran onto the train, leaving Sirius and Remus there on the platform.

Ashley ran into the compartments. Michael usually sat on the left side. Finally, she found him.

"MICHAEL!" Ashley cried. He was wrapped around Selma Cambress, a Ravenclaw in their year, snogging furiously. He shoved her away, and stood up.

"Ashley! Wait!" He ran after her, but she had run into the compartment she shared with James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Quickly she locked it, and slid down on the floor, her back to the compartment door. She cried her eyes out as Michael kept banging on the door calling her name.

"GO AWAY! I HATE YOU, YOU BLOODY ARSE!" she screamed through all the sobbing. Remus walked over to comfort her, and pulled her into a seat. James slid out of the compartment.

"Open the door, Potter!" Michael shouted.

"Why don't you make me, Malverty? Either you leave Ashley the fuck alone, or I'll have to give you a months worth of detention - Not to mention reporting your horrible behaviour to the headmaster," James warned him angrily.

"You can't give me detention, Potter," Michael said cruely.

"Oh really? This pretty little badge says otherwise," James taunted, pointing to his Head Boy badge.

"I'll get her on her own sooner or later, Potter. You can't protect her forever," he spat.

"Watch me."


	2. Ashley's Problem

_**Ashley's Problem**_

"Ashley?" Lily called as she entered the dormitory. She saw her close friend, Alaina Donahue reading a book on her bed.

"Hey, Lainy. Have you seen Ashley?" Lily asked.

"Nope. Why?" Alaina asked curiously.

"You haven't heard? She and Michael broke up. I wanted to make sure she was okay, but I can't seem to find her anywhere," Lily replied.

"You know where she probably went? By the lake. That's where she and Michael first met and where they started going out," Alaina suggested.

"Thanks, Alaina. I'm gonna check," Lily said gratefully.

"Wait, I'm coming," Alaina said, putting the book down and following Lily to the lake. There Ashley was on the floor, the September breeze flowing through her dirty blonde hair. Her big dark eyes were filled with tears. Lily and Alaina ran over to her. Lily locked her in a hug and Alaina sat down across from her. After two minutes, Alaina said, "Let's get you inside."

The girls walked to the common room and sat in the couch by the fire. Alaina pulled back Ashley's hair and Lily conjured her a cup of tea.

"I - I can't believe it's really over," Ashley said suddenly. "He said he was in love with me, and I know that I loved him. But then again - He seemed to be really loving Selma Cambress in that bloody compartment."

"Oh no, Ashley. I'm so sorry. But you know Selma. She's an emotionless evil whore! He can't possibly love her," Alaina said comfortingly.

"Thanks, Lainy. I - Is it that she's prettier than me? Or is it - "

"She's _not_ prettier than you! Her teeth are the size of North America and her eyes are just cold and gray. She's a bloody slut and Michael's going to realize this is the biggest mistake he's ever made," Lily told her sternly. Just then, Alice and Fallon walked into the common room. Alice and Fallon were good friends of Lily, Ashley, and Alaina, who shared the same dorm. They spent the rest of the afternoon making Ashley feel better.

The next day was a Sunday. Ashley and Lily were first to wake as usual, so they headed to the common room. Ashley and Lily were best friends, all though Ashley also considered the Marauders to be her best friends.

"Ashley!" someone called. Lily and Ashley spun around.

"What do _you_ want?" Ashley said coldly. It was Michael.

"I'm so sorry, Ash! I don't know what got into me! I never meant to do anything to hurt you. I love you so much - "

"Save it, Michael. We're over," Ashley said confidently, with a note of finalty.

"Don't say that, Ashley! Please, give me one more chance," Michael begged.

"I already did. You blew the last chance. And the chance before that. I'm sick of this bullshit," Ashley told him.

"Can we please just talk in private?" Michael pleaded.

"FINE, Michael. I'll see you later Lily," Ashley said. Lily nodded, gave Michael a hateful look, and departed for breakfast.

"Let's go outside," Michael suggested. Ashley sighed, but followed him. They walked outside and the cool breeze whisped through their hair. Finally they stopped.

"Okay, so let's talk. I gave you everything, Michael. You needed money, I lent it to you. You needed someone to talk to, I was there for you. You wanted another chance, I let you have it. You threw it all away for a one-night stand, and I can't forgive that," Ashley told him, almost crying.

"I messed up. I'll let you know now that nothing I can say will undo what I've done. I know that. I love you though. I have no feelings for Selma at all," Michael told her.

"What about Bianca Dallas? Did you have feelings for Bianca? And how about Rhiannon Belcore? Three strikes, Michael. You're out." She walked away, but Michael pulled her back. "Let go, Michael!"

"No," he said sternly. "Not until you take me back."

"Michael, you're hurting me!" Ashley screamed at him.

Then, out of nowhere, somebody punched Michael in the face. Ashley looked down to see his nose had been broken. She looked over to the guy who had punched him out.

"S - Sirius," Ashley stuttered.

"And how are you today?" Sirius joked.

Ashley glared at him for a second. Then, not knowing what she was doing, she hugged him and whispered "I'm so sorry."

"We'll talk later. Go to the common room, I'll meet you there." She nodded and ran off.

Ashley ran into the common room. The only people present were Remus, James, Lily, two second years, and three first years. Lily jumped up from the corner she was reading her book in.

"Ashley! What happened?" Lily asked, turning the heads of James and Remus.

"We were talking - He grabbed me - Sirius broke his nose," said Ashley, gasping for air.

"_What_?" James said, standing up. "Padfoot broke Michael's nose? This is all my fault!"

"How in hell is this your fault, Prongs?" Ashley asked him, her eyebrows shooting up, as they always did when she was confused.

"Remember first day of term on the train when I said I'd never let him catch you alone? If I had kept my bloody promise, he wouldn't have went after you! I'm so sorry, Ashley!" James apologized.

"James, I don't blame you! You're not responsible for watching me every hour of everyday," Ashley pointed out.

"Then it's my fault," Lily whispered.

"Lily, How can this be your fault in any way?" James asked, shaking his head at her.

"I was with her! I shouldn't have let her go with him!" Lily cried.

"It's nice that you guys care about me, but I'm not a child. I'm a big girl. It was my decision to talk to Michael. I felt like I had to. Like if I talked to him, it would all be overwith. I can't explain it," Ashley told them.

"Well - How did it happen, then?" James asked.

"I was telling him that after Bianca, Rhiannon, and now Selma, enough is enough. I tried to walk away, but he grabbed my wrists, and held me there. I was screaming, and then Sirius came out of nowhere and punched him in the nose. He told me to come here and wait," Ashley explained in one breath. Just then, Sirius came through the portrait hole.

"Hey guys," Sirius said.

"Uh, Sirius? Can I talk to you outside?" Ashley asked.

"Sure thing, Flames," Sirius shrugged. They walked down the hall into an empty classroom.

"I just wanted to say thanks so much. I - I got really scared out there, and I don't know what I would have done if you weren't there," Ashley said, her eyes getting watery.

"What did he do to you?" Sirius asked.

"H - He cheated on me again. With Selma Cambress. But of couse, now she's done every guy in seventh year," Ashley said miserably.

"I'm sorry, Ashley," Sirius said, looking at her. She looked up from the floor.

"You're sorry? But you were right! I should have listened to you!"

Sirius looked at her with pity. Here was a smart, funny, pretty girl who looked ready to cry her eyes out. Deciding to go against his better judgement, Sirius leaned in and kissed her. She kissed back - at first. Then she looked away.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked.

"I- I'm sorry," she looked at him for a second and ran back to the common room, silent tears flowing down her cheeks. Lily followed her up to their dormitory.

"What happened?" Lily asked.

"I thanked Sirius, and then out of nowhere he kissed me. I freaked and ran away," Ashley said silently.

"Oh my god. He - He kissed you?" Lily asked.

"Mmhmm," Ashley replied, blushing.

"Er - I was just at a Head's meeting with Dumbledore and Potter. We're going to be having a ball in two weeks."


	3. Memories

**_Summary:_** This chapter is mainly to let you get to know Ashley a little bit better, and learn of her past with her friends.

_**Memories**_

Ashley sighed as she looked out the window. She wanted to think of a happier memory. Something that could make her smile, just thinking about it. And then her mind turned back to the day she met the best friends she ever had. They were on the train to Hogwarts, and Ashley had no idea where to sit. She didn't know anyone that was in Hogwarts other than her brother and sister, Josh and Jessica. Jessica was in Year 3, and Josh was in Year 4. Neither wanted to be seen with their baby sister. At random, Ashley knocked on a compartment door. The guy who opened the door was very handsome with messy jet-black hair and hazel eyes.

"H - Hello. I'm Ashley Benedettis. Do you mind if I sit here? Mostly all the other compartments are full," Ashley said shyly.

"Sure, no problem. I'm James Potter. That's Sirius Black and Remus Lupin," James introduced. Ashley smiled and shook all their hands. She noticed that James' gaze never left her. Ashley couldn't keep from looking at James. He was just so handsome! She blushed everytime he smiled at her. About fifteen minutes later, a small, chubby boy with mousy hair knocked on the door. His name was Peter Pettigrew, and that's when it all started.

For some reason beyond her knowing, everytime Ashley thought of the day that she meet James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, she thought of the day that she and James started dating. They began dating on October 17th. It was a windy day in third year, and they had found out that their first trip to Hogsmeade was less than a week away. Everyone was so excited, and planning dates. Ashley, Sirius, and James were sitting in the common room.

"Are you asking anyone to Hogsmeade this Saturday, Sirius?" James questioned.

"I was thinking of Avelina Cook," Sirius replied with a shrug of boredom, "What about you, Jamesy?"

"I already have a date," James replied nonchalantly.

"Who with?" Ashley asked in a semi-alarmed tone.

"Why, I'm going with you, Ashley," James replied with his signature smirk.

"Hmm, I don't remember agreeing to that," Ashley smiled.

"Let me refresh your memory. It went something like 'Ashley, would you like to go to Hogsmeade this weekend?'" James said, scratching his neck.

"Okay, I'll go with you, Jamie," Ashley said with a laugh. She was the only one who got to call him "Jamie". Right afterward, they had their first kiss. Ashley had blushed, and when she finally looked over to Sirius, she couldn't read his expression. Looking back, she knew it was hurt, betrayl, and anger.

Ashley's thoughts snapped back to reality. She wasn't with James anymore. She had no feelings for him, aside from the "best friend" factor. When had Sirius started liking her, anyway? Oh please, like he actually liked her! She was just another name to cross off his list! She shook her head, racking her brain for a happy memory. How about the day she met Lily, Alaina, Alice, and Fallon?

It was the same day that she met James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. She was walking up to her new dormitory, and Fallon started up an odd conversation about arm hair. Or was it leg hair? Ashley hardly remembered anymore. Fallon was the type to just say whatever crossed her mind. The girls had a good laugh, and had been close friends ever since. Most of the girls in their year at Hogwarts were normally jealous because Ashley hung around the Marauders so much. The four of them had even given her the nickname of "Marauderette".


	4. A Deal With The Devil

_**A Deal With the Devil**_

Ashley bounced into the Great Hall and sat down with her friends at the table. She helped herself to some food and pumpkin juice.

"This dance should be pretty fun, eh?" Alaina said, making pleasant conversation.

"I guess so," shrugged Alice.

"I'm just kind of nervous about finding a date," said Alaina. Around her friends, Alaina was very outgoing and cheerful, but to strangers, she was one of the shyest people you would ever meet. Fallon was probably the most outgoing person in their group of friends. Ashley knew that Alaina sometimes envied the way Fallon found it so easy to be herself around everyone. Just then, Alaina's younger brother and sister, Lisa and Brandon sat down at the table. Brandon was in Year 6, and Lisa was in Year 4.

"Ugh this dance is really starting to bug me," Lisa said grumpily as she sat down.

"Why?" Alaina asked curiously.

"Little-Miss-Popular over here got precisely 7 invites on her way down here. It got to the point where she asked me to hide her so nobody would see her," Brandon said, rolling his eyes.

"Anyone in paticular you want to go with, sis?" Alaina asked.

"I wouldn't mind going with Christian," Lisa mumbled.

Ashley almost choked on her food. "Christian as in my brother Christian?"

Lisa nodded, blushing a bit. There was a chorus of "awww" and everyone went back to their food. Not long after Fallon, Peter, and Remus joined them at the breakfast table.

"Heard about the dance, Fal?" Lily asked cheerfully.

"Yup. Got a date too," Fallon replied casually.

"Jeez, you don't waste time," Ashley joked.

"I asked Danny Bishop," Fallon shrugged.

"You asked him?" Alaina asked, surprised.

"Yep," Fallon replied uninterestedly.

Some of Ashley's siblings, Alyssa, Nicole, Dylan, and Brooke entered the Great Hall. Alyssa, Nicole, and Dylan were triplets who looked absolutely nothing alike. They were in Year 6, and Brooke was in Year 4.

"Have you guys found dates yet?" Lily asked.

"Ugh, don't remind me!" Alyssa said dramatically.

"What's up with her?" Ashley asked.

"She's angry because Brooke is going with Anthony Cowen, and nobody's even asked her yet," laughed Dylan. This was quite odd, because in all honestly, Alyssa was a bit on the slutty side. It was shocking she didn't already have a date.

"Shut up!" Alyssa snapped.

"What are we laughing about?" Christian asked as he and Lauren took a seat. They were Ashley's siblings also, Christian being Brooke's twin, and Lauren being in Year 2.

"Nothing," responded Lisa, blushing a bit.

"Hey, Lisa?" Christian said.

"Yeah, Chris?" said Lisa hopefully.

"Uh - Would you mind helping me with my potions essay tonight? Slughorn's cracking down a bit, if ya haven't noticed," Christian said smiling.

"Er - Sure thing," Lisa replied miserably.

"Where's Rafe this morning?" Fallon asked, reffering to her younger brother.

"Said he was skipping breakfast to head to the library. What a bookworm," Lauren replied, rolling her eyes. Lauren and Rafe were in the same year, and were good friends.

"Where's Sirius?" Alice asked, noticing the missing face from their group.

"He's - er - not feeling so great," James said, looking distinctly at Ashley. Ashley still felt uncomfortable around James when it came to her and other guys. Ashley looked at him questioningly. He nodded up, and she nodded back. Back in the first three years at Hogwarts, they had been inseperable. They were still close now, but not as clingy. They had almost developed a secret language that mainly consisted of nods and glares.

"Excuse me," Ashley said, looking at James. He knew exactly what she was doing. She ran upstairs and into Sirius' dormitory.

"Ashley! What the - "

"Shut up and listen. I don't want things to be awkward cause we kissed, okay?" Ashley said sternly. She decided that the direct approach would be best.

He ignored the tone of bossiness that Ashley sometimes had when trying to be direct. "Things were awkward with you and James, weren't they?"

"We got over that. Besides, we were 13!" Ashley countered.

"Well, you guys were pretty serious for thirteen. All you did was make out," Sirius retorted bitterly.

"James was my first serious boyfriend, and I was his first serious girlfriend. It was puppy love. What did you expect us to act like an old married couple? You and I are not James and I! We're not even a couple, Sirius!" Ashley protested angrily, and stormed out.

"Just great," Sirius muttered.

Potions time was near. Ashley, Fallon, Alaina, and Remus sat together in the back. "I can't wait for the dance! Danny and I are gonna have so much fun! So who are you asking, Remus?" Fallon asked.

"Ugh, I haven't a clue," Remus said miserably.

"Anyone ask you, Ash?" Fallon questioned.

"Just Evan in Hufflepuff. A bit boring and not so great looking," Ashley mumbled back, trying to take a few notes.

"And you, Lainy?" Fallon asked.

"Uh Tommy - That kid in Ravenclaw."

"And you said...?" Remus asked.

"I said I'd think about it," Alaina replied, shrugging. The bell rang, "Ancient Runes calls. Seeya there, Ashley, Remus. Bye!"

"Um - Remus?" Ashley said, startled.

"Yes?" Remus said, his normal, calm and gentle voice replaced by coldness.

"Are you planning on telling us why you're breaking your quills, or do we have to force it out of you?" Ashley asked.

"It's nothing - sorry - Er - I've got to head to Ancient Runes..." Remus said quickly and darted out of the room.

"Doesn't he usually walk to Ancient Runes with you, Alaina, and Lily?" Fallon asked curiously.

"Yeah. He does," Ashley said slowly, thinking of reasons why Remus could be acting so odd. Fallon shrugged. "I'm off to Divination," she said. Ashley said "Bye" and watched her bounce down the hallway, her black hair flowing behind her. Ashley turned around to head to Ancient Runes when she bumped right into Professor McGonagall.

"Oh - Sorry Professor!" Ashley said apolegetically.

"Quite all right, Miss Benedettis," Professor McGonagall said. "Listen, Benedettis, We have a transfer student from America here. I was wondering if you could show her to Ancient Runes. I fixed it so she has the same schedule as you, Lily Evans, and Alaina Donahue," said Professor McGonagall.

"Sure, Professor," Ashley said. Professor McGonagall gave her a grateful look and departed.

"Hi, I'm Ashley Benedettis," Ashley said, stretching out her hand.

"Erica Ferguson. Friends call me Fergie. It's a pleasure," Erica said politely. The two began to walk toward Ancient Runes.

"So, where in America did you live? I go there each summer for at least a week," Ashley asked.

"I've lived in Ohio, New York, California, and Idaho. My mom get's transfered a lot. She's a muggle and my dad's a wizard," Erica replied.

"Oh, I've been to New York and California. Lovely places. What school is in America?" Ashley asked.

"Oh, well, when I lived on the East Coast of America, I went to the Salem Institute, but when we moved West, I went to a school in Western Canada," Erica replied.

"Ah. What were the classes?" Ashley asked.

"Hmm...Potions, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Divination, Charms, Transfiguration, and then the bonus subjects you could do for an hour on Saturday and Sunday. There was Dream Analization, also known as Drezation and Wandless Magic," Erica replied quickly. They entered Ancient Runes just as the late bell sounded and took a seat.

Ashley poked Alaina, who was on her right. She nodded toward Remus, who was cracking each of his knuckles furiously, and muttering under his breath. Alaina's eyebrows went up, and she mouthed "What's with him?" Ashley whispered back "Haven't a clue" and opened her textbook to page 26. After class, Erica was introduced to Alaina and Lily.

Next period was a free one. "Ashley? Can we talk outside?" came the voice of James Potter.

"Sure," she replied and followed him to the yard. They were standing right by Hagrid's hut.

"Y - You should give Sirius a chance. He really likes you, Flames," said James.

"No, he thinks he does," Ashley corrected. "Why do you seem so different?"

"It's just kinda of odd talking to you about this sort of stuff," James said quietly.

"I know what you mean, Prongs. But listen to me, James, no matter what, you'll always be my best friend. Always have been, always will be," Ashley told him.

"Yeah, you and Sirius and Moony are the best friends I've got," said James earnestly.

"Ow!" Ashley cried painfully.

"What's the matter?" James asked.

"My - My hand is bleeding," Ashley replied, looking at the blood gushing from her hand.

"Let me see that," James said. He grasped her hand and inspected it. He drew out his wand, muttered a spell, put it back, and examined his work. "I think I fixed -," James began to say, but was cut off.

"What are you two doing?" came the voice of Sirius.

"I was just-," but James was cut off yet again.

"Ugh, sorry to intrude," Sirius muttered.

"Intrude on what exactly?" Ashley asked perplexedly.

"I saw you holding hands!" Sirius shouted.

"You prick, he wasn't holding my hand!" Ashley yelled angrily.

"Oh really? Would you stop lying to me? I saw you!" Sirius shot back.

"My hand got cut and James was looking at it so he could fix it. That's all you prat!"

Ashley couldn't take much more of this. She shot him a look, looked sadly at James, and headed back to the castle. After a few minutes, James managed to convince Sirius that he and Ashley were just friends, and Sirius felt rather stupid.

"What's next?" Erica asked brightly.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Lily replied angrily.

"You don't like Defense Against the Dark Arts, Lily?" Erica asked.

"She doesn't like _who's in_ Defense Against the Dark Arts," Alaina corrected, chuckling slightly.

"And who would that be?" Erica asked.

"The Marauders. More specifically, James Potter," Ashley responded.

"Who's James Potter?" Erica asked.

"Who's James Potter, eh? James Potter is the most conceited, evil, twisted jerk - "

"Good job, Erica. You've got her started on her list of '100 Things I Hate About James Potter'," Ashley said, rolling her eyes. Alaina let out a laugh.

"You've said yourself how much better he is this term, Lily!" Alaina pointed out.

"Mmhmm," Lily muttered.

"Give him a chance, Lily! I swear to you, he's a good guy," Ashley said.

"If he was such a good guy, then why did you dump him?" Lily asked.

"He turned sour for a while, but he's changed. I promise you, he has!" Ashley replied.

"Fine - Next time he asks me - I'll say yes," Lily said sadly, as if she had just made a deal with the devil.

"Yay! You won't regret it. James is much different when you're alone with him," Ashley assured her.


	5. A Dance to Remember

_**A Dance to Remember**_

"Should I even bother asking Lily to the dance?" James asked one day in the common room. It was 2:00 a.m. and the only other people present were Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Ashley.

"YES!" Ashley blurted out.

"Why so sure, Flames?" James asked.

"Promise not to tell? She'll kill me!" Ashley asked.

"I swear!" James exclaimed.

"Well - We were talking, and I was trying to make you look really good, so I talked about how you've changed, and finally convinced her to say yes if you asked her on a date!" Ashley cried happily.

"Really?" James said astonishedly. Ashley nodded. "Oh merlin, Ashley! You're the best!" He gave her a huge hug.

"Can't - Breathe - Remus - Help!"

"Er - Prongs? Looks like you're suffocating her," Remus said, pointing to a choking Ashley.

"Oops! Uh - Sorry, Ash!" James said, patting her on the back.

"Ugh - It's okay, Prongs," Ashley said, shaking her head.

"So...I've basically got a date for the dance! What about you guys?" James said in a satisfied tone.

"Well, I've been thinking of asking someone..." Sirius trailed off.

"Yeah, who?" James asked, with interest.

He muttered something not understandable. "Excuse me?" said James.

"Er - I was thinking of asking Alyssa."

Ashley glared at him with a look of pure hate and muttered something that sounded a lot like "pig" as she headed toward her dormitory.

"That was the dumbest thing you could have possibly said," said Remus, shaking his head.

"What? It could make her jealous!" Sirius told them, putting up his hands.

"Or, it could make her think that you're just a player, not willing to wait around for anyone, and if you're forced to, you'll have to get the next best thing by sleeping with her sister!" James told him. "You've really messed up, Padfoot."

"You're one to talk, Prongs! After Ashley, the only girls you ever went out with were to make Lily jealous or because you got bored and lonely on a bloody Friday night!" Sirius said angrily.

"Correct, Padfoot. Correct," James mumbled, "I thought you would have learned from my idiotic mistakes."

"Apparently not!" Sirius shouted.

"Calm down, Sirius," Remus said quietly, "Don't lose your temper."

"I'll lose my damn temper whenever the bloody hell I chose, Remus!" Sirius replied coldly. "I'm off to bed," he grumbled miserably, and forced himself up the stairs and into his dormitory.

The next day, Ashley woke up feeling miserable and upset. She forced herself down to breakfast, and on her way to class, was stopped by Sean DiCannio, a Ravenclaw in her year.

"Hello, Ashley. Brilliant morning, eh?" he said politely.

"Bloody Amazing," Ashley replied sarcastically, faking a smile.

"Are you okay, Ashley?" Sean asked cautiously.

"Yeah, sorry for being so rude. Guess I had a crummy night. Ah well. How are you doing?" Ashley asked, trying to change her mood the best she could.

"Very well, thanks. Er - Listen, I was wondering if you'd maybe want to go to the dance with me?" Sean asked quietly. Ashley considered this. He was smart, funny, and quite attractive. She gave him a warm smile and nodded.

"I'd love to."

"Really? Great! I'll see ya in class! Bye!" Sean said excitedly. Ashley gave him a small wave before departing for Transfiguration.

Ashley looked over to her usual seat by Lily. James was in her seat! Damn. She searched the room for available seating. The only spot left was beside one Sirius Black. "Perfect," she muttered scornfully.

Two minutes into Transfiguration class, Sirius slipped Ashley a note. She looked at it and saw a single word:"Sorry"

Ashley scribbled back:"I don't care. Do as you please. Take my sister. I've got a date."

She looked at Sirius' face as he read that last part. It looked as if someone had just hit him across the face.

He wrote a short reply and gave the note back. "Oh...Who?"

She quickly wrote the name "Sean DiCannio" and set the paper in front of his desk so that she could concentrate on the notes that had to be taken. Professor McGonagall was speaking unusally quickly, as if to savor time. Ashley wrote as fast as she could, and then it was time to practice what they had just learned.

The next week dragged unusually slowly, and Ashley was fine with that, seeing as she was dreading the dance that would be soon coming up. But just because she wasn't paticularly happy about the whole situation, didn't mean she wasn't happy about getting to dress up and cut loose. Ashley, Lily, Alice, Fallon, Alaina, and Erica had their parents send them muggle clothing. That was the theme after all, "Teen Muggle Dance". Lily had her long firey hair pulled into two braids. She wore a navy blue silk dress, and high healed white stappy shoes. Alice had her brown hair curled and she wore a green top and a long black skirt. Fallon had her long black hair in a side pony-tail. She wore a black berret, a white top, a black skirt, and black dress shoes. Alaina wore a black shirt and a jean skirt. Her hair was pulled half up, half down. Erica had her straight, blonde hair curled. She wore a pink dress with suade boots. And finally, Ashley wore her hair in a messy bun, with two strands falling in her face. She had black eyeliner, pink lipgloss, a bit of foundation, and had on a black, velvet dress. Her naturally light brownish dirty blonde hair had a hint of red in it, and she wore black strappy heels.

"I can barely walk," Fallon complained.

"Me either, but I don't care! This is gonna be great," Lily said, smiling largely.

"Well, well, well. Would you look who's excited about having a date with James Potter?" teased Ashley.

"I admit, you were right. He's not bad at all," Lily admitted.

"Well, let's go down and meet the guys then," said Alaina, waving her hands toward the door.

Ashley walked down the stairs with her friends. She whispered to them that she'd meet them in the Great Hall. She then scurried through the portrait hole and waited for Sean. About two minutes later he arrived.

"Wow - You look brilliant," he commented.

"Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself," Ashley smiled.

"Shall we get going then?"

"Sure," Ashley said, and they walked to the Great Hall. It looked just like a muggle night club. Professor Dumbledore, who's usual wardrobe was a set of robes, was in a bright blue suit. Professor McGonagall had actually let her hair down, and had on a long, dark green dress.

"Would you like a drink?" Sean asked politely.

"Yeah, thanks. I'm off to find a table," Ashley said.

"Okay."

Meanwhile, Alaina sighed as she waited for Eugene, her date. She had decided to go with Eugene Serroy, a 7th year Hufflepuff. He wasn't the most handsome guy, but he was smart, funny, polite, and caring.

"Hey, Alaina. What are you doing out here?" asked Cheyenne Butler, a fifth year Gryffindor.

"I'm waiting for Eugene. He's taking me to the dance," Alaina replied with a sigh.

"Eugene Serroy? As in my cousin Eugene? I heard he was going with that sixth year Ravenclaw - Lucinda Whatsherface. Not sure of the last name," Cheyenne said thoughtfully.

"Uh - thanks Cheyenne," Alaina said woefully.

"Aww, Alaina. I'm sorry," Cheyenne said plaintively.

"It's okay, It isn't your fault, Chey," Alaina assured her with a half-smile.

"You look really nice, Alaina. Don't let Eugene ruin your good time. Come downstairs with me," Cheyenne asked with a smile.

"Nah, I don't want to intrude," Alaina said, putting up her right hand.

"It's no problem. My date's in the Hospital Wing, so I'm going solo," Cheyenne told her.

"Well - okay," Alaina said, trying her hardest to smile.

She wasn't upset that her date with Eugene was cancelled. She was just upset that she had gotten stood up. What was it with guys? Were they not manly enough to tell girls to their face that they found somebody better? Alaina just didn't get it. She sighed one last time, stood up, and followed Cheyenne to the Great Hall.

Alaina entered and looked around for one of her friends. She saw Ashley sitting down at a table alone, probably waiting for Sean. She looked around some more. James and Lily were on the dance floor, really cutting loose. Not far away was Ashley's sister, Alyssa, dancing with about seven guys at once. And at a nearby seat was Sirius, looking at the floor, with a look of misery on his face. Fallon and Danny were snogging like crazy by where the Slytherin table one was. Peter was at the buffet table, stuffing his face with deserts of all kinds. Alice and Frank were alone in a corner, talking. Erica was in a group with two guys and another girl discussing something. Alaina looked over to the DJ. Right by the DJ, was Remus and some Ravenclaw girl that Alaina couldn't quite place.

And then it happened. Alaina had no idea why, but suddenly she was filled with rage, and the desire to punch someone. Cheyenne probably noticed the change in Alaina's mood, because she whispered "Are you okay?"

"No, I - I don't think so. I don't feel very good," Alaina replied truthfully.

"Would you like to go to the Hospital Wing? Or do you want something to drink?" Cheyenne asked.

"A drink would be nice, if you don't mind," Alaina said.

"It's no problem. I'll be back in a second," Cheyenne said, and darted off to the punch bowl.

Alaina covered her eyes with her hand, and shook her head as if trying to recover from a serious migrain.

"Alaina - Are you all right?" came a familiar voice.

"Just peachy," Alaina said sarcastically.

"Have I done something?" Remus asked in a perplexed tone.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," Alaina replied bitterly.

"Alaina, would you please tell me what's going on!" Remus said angrily.

"Ugh, Remus. Do me a favor, and just go back to your bloody date," Alaina said, and turned away.

"This is about Dorinda?" Remus asked confusedly.

"No," Alaina replied coldly.

"What is your problem, Alaina? In all the years I've known you, I've never seen you act like this!" Remus exclaimed.

"Well, maybe the real me is a bitch! Ever think of that, Remus?" Alaina asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"No, Alaina. I know you, you aren't a bitch," Remus said calmly.

"I - I...I'm really sorry, Remus! I don't know what's gotten into me!" Alaina said, on the verge of tears.

"Lainy, it's okay."

"Wait, I think I do know what's gotten into me," Alaina mumbled.

"Huh?"

"H - How do you feel about me, Remus?" Alaina asked suddenly.

"You're funny, kinda, p - "

"No, no, no. I mean...as more than a friend?" Alaina asked, turning pink.

"Oh..."

"Argh, I knew it!" Alaina said, breaking down in tears. She ran up to her dormitory and slammed the door.

How could she have been so stupid? Like Remus would ever like her! Alaina studied herself in the mirror. She was nothing special at all! Brown hair, big deal! Tons of girls had her exact same, straight, brown (actually, close to black) hair! And really, who cares about brown eyes?

"A - Alaina?"

"Sod off, Lupin!" Alaina replied with a mean sob.

"Let me in or I'm breaking down this door," threatened Remus.

"Why can't you leave me alone?" Alaina wailed as she relcutantly opened the door.

"You didn't give me a chance to speak, Alaina!"

"As if 'oh' wasn't enough! You have more?" Alaina asked cruely, sitting at the windowseat.

"I was shocked, Alaina! I never realized that there was a chance you could ever like me! I realized that I've liked you as more than a friend since the start of 7th year," Remus told her.

"Really?" Alaina asked.

"Yes," Remus replied with a small blush.

"Oh - um...What about Doreen or Dorinda, or whatever her name was?" Alaina asked, her tone suddenly sweet.

"It's not like I like her. I just went cause I thought you were going with Eugene," Remus replied with a shrug.

"Oh..." Alaina trailed off, turning pink.

Remus stepped toward her and the two began to kiss.

"What's wrong with you, Padfoot?" James said, over the loud music.

"Nothing, I'm feeling bloody brilliant," Sirius replied nastily.

"Don't take your temper out on us," Lily said calmly.

"Everyone's got who they want except me. It's not fair."

"Well...Remus doesn't have Alaina. She doesn't even know he likes her!" James replied, scratching his head.

"Oh really? Turn around, Prongs," Sirius replied lazily pointing behind them. James and Lily spun around to see Remus and Alaina locked in a tight embrace, snogging madly.

"Uh - Well then - Wow...Er, sorry, Sirius," Lily muttered.

"She doesn't seem to be having such a good time," lied James. They all looked over to Ashley and Sean, who were dancing happily.

"Oh yeah, she looks miserable," Sirius replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Maybe she's just covering it up," suggested Lily.

"Yeah, sure," Sirius mumbled.

Just then, Ashley walked over to Lily and James.

"Having fun with your sorry excuse for a date?" Sirius said cruely.

"Sirius - What the hell is your problem? Can I not walk into a bloody room anymore without hearing your stupid comments?" Ashley asked, firing up immidiately.

"You know what my problem is, and you're pretty thick if you don't," Sirius mumbled.

"Oh merlin, Sirius. This isn't about the kiss?" mumbled Ashley. James shot them both a look of shock.

"Maybe it is. Maybe it's the fact that you think you're too good for me," Sirius shot at her.

"Is that really what you think?" Ashley asked. Sirius nodded. "Well then you don't know me at all!" and she ran out of the Great Hall. Lily looked at Sirius, then James, and ran after her.

"Ugh, Padfoot. You're really bad at this," James said quietly.

"Well, I'm sorry! Girls like Ashley don't come with an instruction manual!"

"Girls like Ashley? Try all girls!" James told him sternly.

"James, I've been with tons of girls, and none of them ever acted like Ashley," Sirius replied.

"You're right. You've been with tons of girls, but all they were was sex or snogging. Ashley's more than that, so feelings come into play," James said.


	6. It's Love

_**It's Love**_

The next morning, Ashley was the first to awake in her dormitory. She sat at the window seat looking out at the day. The breeze blew all of the leaves around, and she wished that she had the will to smile, but she wouldn't allow herself. Her night was too crummy for a smile to spread across her face. Ashley was confused about everything. Deep down she felt as if she loved Sirius, but she was just too scared to admit it. Would it ruin the friendship? Or what if the same thing happened to her with Sirius as it did with Michael?

Wait a second. If it were so wrong for Sirius to compare himself to James, then why wasn't it bad for her to compare Sirius to Michael? Maybe she should just give Sirius a chance. Maybe if he were actually in a real relationship, he wouldn't be such a jerk. Ashley thought back to the day they had kissed. She wished she would stop thinking about that. She and Sirius had disaster written all over it. Or did it?

The next day was a trip to Hogsmeade. "Padfoot, Just come with us. You need to get out, you're pale as a ghost these days!" scolded James.

"What's the point? I've lost the first girl I've ever loved, just because I'm a huge moron," Sirius said solemnly, and he went back to staring off into space. That was what Sirius did most of the time these days. Sometimes he couldn't even hear what was going on in the real world.

"Love?" James said. He stopped what he was doing and looked at Sirius with wide eyes.

"Er - I said that out loud?" said Sirius sheepishly.

"You love her?"

"Yeah, James. I love her," Sirius responded a bit embaressedly.

"Did you tell her that?" questioned James.

"No way! She's with Sean now," Sirius whispered hushedly.

"One date doesn't mean she's 'with' him," James pointed out.

"Yeah but she likes him better," Sirius stated flatly.

"How would you know that unless you talk to her?" responded James earnestly.

"Fine, If you want me to talk to her that bloody badly, I will," said Sirius hotly, and he marched out of the room.

Sirius walked downstairs and into the common room. Most of the Gryffindors were already downstairs, getting ready for their trip to Hogsmeade. The only people still in there were four kids too young to go to Hogsmeade, and Lily, Erica, Alaina, Remus, Fallon, and Ashley.

"Er - Do you guys mind if I talk to Ashley in private?" asked Sirius jitterly.

"Sure - uh - Tell James we'll meet him downstairs," Lily replied, and they all scurried out of the common room. Sirius looked around and even the younger kids had gone.

"Something you wanted to say?" Ashley asked angrily.

"I'm a jerk. I know that, okay? But you know how I feel about you, and I can't control it! I'm really sorry, I never meant to make you feel bad. That's the last thing I'd ever want to do. I've honestly never felt this way about anybody else. Do you really think I'd be after one girl for this long if I didn't have feelings for you? If it were anyone else, I would have moved on quite a while ago," Sirius told her silently yet sternly.

Ashley was at a loss for words. What could she say to that? She sighed and said the first thing that came to her. "I believe that you have feelings for me."

"Then what's the problem?" Sirius asked perplexedly.

"The problem is a lot of stuff. Like, ruining the friendship, for example," answered Ashley instantly.

"Nothing in the world could ruin our friendship," Sirius responded sharply, "Next problem."

"I - I'm scared," Ashley admitted quietly.

"What is there to be scared of?" asked Sirius, just as quietly.

"Fine, you want the truth? The truth is, I'm scared because I never loved anyone the way I love you, and that scares me because usually I can keep my feelings and my emotions under control. But not now. Not anymore," Ashley replied wistfully, and she put her face in her hands.

"Wait a minute. You just said you love me?" Sirius asked, a broad grin spreading across his face.

"Huh?" Ashley asked, looking up.

"You just said, and I quote, 'I've never loved anyone that way I love you'," Sirius reminded her merrily.

"No I didn't!" lied Ashley sheepishly.

"Yes, you did. This is great. I love you, and you love me!"

"What's that now?" Ashley said, now smirking herself.

"Er - You love me?" Sirius replied confusedly.

"No, no, no. The 'I love you' part," Ashley smiled.

"I already know you love me, Ashley, but thanks for saying so again," Sirius said, covering up what he blurted out with a joke.

"Why can't you just admit that you said it? Just tell me how you feel!" Ashley prodded.

"Fine! I - I love you," Sirius said, looking into her eyes.

"And I love you."

"C - Can I k-," but he was cut off by Ashley pressing her lips against his. After several seconds, Ashley backed away, blushing. Sirius too looked oddly pink. "Er - Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me?"

"I'd love to," Ashley replied. "But first, tell James we're going." Sirius nodded, went upstairs for a minute, and came back down. They smiled at each other, and Sirius put his arm around Ashley. They walked downstairs and within the hour, everyone knew that Sirius Black and Ashley Benedettis were a couple.


	7. Rude Awakenings

_**Rude Awakenings**_

A month had gone by since the Happily Ever After for Lily and James, Alaina and Remus, and Ashley and Sirius. Ashley and Sirius were celebrating their one month anniversery. Ashley and Sirius were in the Room of Requirement celebrating. It was a pretty romantic evening. They were just finishing dinner when Ashley asked. "Do you ever wonder about our future?"

"Sometimes," Sirius admitted.

"What's it like?" asked Ashley.

"Well...We're living close by London, and we've got four kids. Two boys, and two girls. We've got a dog and a cat, and we're all happy and healthy. We're living close by all of our friends, and we're all ten minutes away from one another. Our kids all play together, and we live generally happy lives," Sirius concluded smiling and turning a bit pink.

"Wow, Sirius. I wish I knew what it would be like. I hope our future is just like that," she whispered.

"Me too," Sirius replied.

"Sirius - Do you love me?"

"Always and forever."

And then very unexpectadly, Ashley fell unconcious.

She was surrounded by darkness. And soon, she saw a greenish light. Ashley followed it, not knowing what compelled her to do so. She was in Diagon Alley. That's weird, how had she gotten here? She walked by a store, and looked at the Newspaper. November 20, 1982. 1982? How the hell did she get to 1982? Was she dreaming? No, this felt much too realistic to be a dream. She decided to just stroll into the Leaky Cauldron.

As soon as she walked in, a woman in her mid fourties walked up to her. "Blimey, you look like that Ashley Benedettis who was killed last month. Anyone ever tell ya that, deary?"

"I - I am Ashley Benedettis. W - What's going on?" Ashley asked in a frightened tone.

"You can't be her. S - She was killed last month. By you-know-who himself!" the woman replied, convincing herself that Ashley was crazed. The door opened in the background and Ashley spun to see a familiar face.

"HAGRID!"

"A - Ashley? Is tha yer? Nah - Couldn' be," Hagrid said mournfully.

"Hagrid, it is me! What's going on?"

"Er - Maybe it's bes' to to talk ou'side," Hagrid said, as if he had seen a ghost. Ashley sighed but followed him.

"What's going on?" Ashley repeated.

"Time-travel, eh?" Hagrid asked sternly.

"I don't know! One minute I was on a date with Sirius celebrating our anniversery, and now I'm here, having people tell me that I'm dead!" Ashley said furiously.

"Ugh, Black! I really shouldn' tell yer an'thing, Ashley. Migh' screw up stuff."

"But what if that's why I'm here? What if I were sent to change the future? Think about it Hagrid, How else could I have time-travelled without using any spells or a time-turner?" argued Ashley.

"Tha's true."

"Can't we at least speak to Dumbledore? I'm sure he has a clue as to what's going on," Ashley replied.

"Nah, if this was for yeh to change the future, then this Dumbledore wouldn' know much. Yer'd hafta go further into the future for tha'."

"Ugh! Then can you please tell me what's going on? I have a right to know why I'm dead!"

"Listen, Ashley. This is dark stuff, okay? If I'm resp'sible for messin' up the future, I could get inter a lotta trouble! But, I agree with ya on some of what yer sayin'."

"So will you help me, Hagrid? Please?" Ashley pleaded.

"All righ', All righ'. A little less than a month ago, James an' Lily Potter, an' yer were together. The story goes tha' yer-know-who came over with some of his Death Eaters. James told Lily ter go protect Harry-,"

"Harry? Who's Harry?" Ashley asked confusedly.

"Harry Potter. Yer godson!" Hagrid replied.

"James and Lily - have a - a - a baby?"

"Oh yeah, Forgot yer from the past. When are yer from, anyway?"

"1977."

"Er - Righ'. Anyway, back ter the story. Lily went upstairs ter protect Harry. Rumor has it tha' yeh and James tried to figh' them off, but i' was no use. I think yer guys died wi'hin seconds of each other. Then, Black was arrested o'course. Betrayed yeh, an' Lily, an' James. An' then he killed his own friend! Whatta waste of a good wizard."

"Sirius wouldn't do that! There must be a mistake!"

"Too many witnesses," Hagrid replied, shrugging off her theory.

"H - He's in Azkaban?" Ashley said, fighting back tears.

"Yes."

"Hagrid, I have to see him! Is there a way I could see him in Azkaban?"

"He be'rayed yeh!"

"What happened to Harry and Lily?" asked Ashley.

"Well, firs' he killed James. I think James told yer to go help Lily an' Harry. Probably said ter let him go, tha' was the kinda man James was. Yer probably ran upstairs, an' all we know is tha' Lily fought for Harry's life. We dunno when or where he killed yer though. Still a mys'ery."

"What happened to Harry?" asked Ashley, a single tear falling from her eye.

"Oh, he survived. Lives with the Dursley's, curse 'em all. Yeh know, he couldn' stay with his godparents, couldde? Yeh were dead and Sirius in Azkaban!"

"I want to see him. I need to see Sirius," Ashley demanded.

"Yeh can'!" Hagrid insisted.

"What was my job? Couldn't something in my work allow me to see him?" Ashley begged, tears streaming down her face.

"Well - Yeh were an auror, like the res' of 'em."

"Ha! An Auror. That's perfect. Auror's are aloud to speak to the wizards in Azkaban. My Uncle Kendrick's an Auror and sometimes he visits the people he puts in Azkaban. Normally with someone to work out what will happen to their house, money, and that kind of stuff. But he goes alone a lot too. If I can -,"

"No use. Yer dead, remember?" Hagrid asked a little sympathetically.

"Er - Right. Well there's gotta be something! We can explain our situation to Dumbledore in this time. He's the smartest man alive, I'm sure he'd be able to do something!"

"Once again, tha's true," Hagrid agreed.

"Where is Dumbledore?"

"He's stayin' at the Leaky Cauldron this weekend," replied Hagrid.

"That's great, Hagrid! Thanks!" Ashley said happily and she ran into the Leaky Cauldron again. She walked up to Tom, the Landlord. "Hiya, Tom. Do you know where Dumbledore is?"

"He'll be down for tea in a minute or so," Tom replied, nodding toward the staircase and the table and chairs. Ashley thanked him and a couple of minutes later, Dumbledore entered the room.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Ashley cried joyfully.

"Ashley? Is that you?" Dumbledore replied, looking quite shocked.

"Yes, Professor. I - I don't know what's happened. One moment I was in the Room of Requirement on a date with Sirius and the next I'm here, and I'm dead!" Ashley choked out.

"Oh my. The Room of Requirement, you say? Ah, that'll be the magic of the room. Were you possibly talking about the future?" Dumbledore asked silently.

"Yes! Sirius and I were talking about what our future would be like - er - as a couple. I said I wish I knew what our future will be like and now I'm here, hearing Sirius is in jail, and James, Lily, and I are dead!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Benedettis, but it seems to me that you're s_upposed_ to observe this time, maybe not to let it happen again, but to change it. Perhaps Sirius is not meant to be in prison. Perhaps James, Lily, and yourself are meant to be alive. Maybe poor little Harry Potter is not meant to grow up with Vernon and Petunia Dursley - and that son of theirs," Dumbledore concluded wisely.

"But how can I change it?" Ashley asked.

"I think you need to discuss that with Mr. Black," Dumbledore replied, nodding slightly.

"But sir - How? He's in Azkaban," Ashley said plaintively.

"That he is. But I'm sure I could persuade Cornelius Fudge into letting him out temporarily. Of course, a couple of aurors would have to be present," Dumbledore said.

"Okay, thanks Professor!" Ashley said, smiling.

"I'll write to Cornelius now. Here, have some tea whilst we await a reply."

"Ashley! Ashley! Please wake up. Wake up!" Sirius was frantic. He reached for her hand to feel a pulse. It was there, so she was just unconsious. He picked her up in his arms and he tried to carry her out, but everytime they reached the door, Ashley would hit and punch him in her unconsious state. "Great, so we're stuck in here."

Then, Sirius had an idea. He pulled out his two-way mirror and said "James." and James appeared where his reflection once was.

"What's up, Padfoot?"

"Ashley's unconsious! Everytime I try to take her out of here, she goes ballistic. Call Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey, and get in here to help! I'll come out so I can think of what the room is," Sirius replied quickly.

"Okay, I'm going. I'll see you in five minutes," James replied, and his image was gone. Sirius went outside to wait for Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, and James. Several minutes later, they arrived and Sirius thought of what he wanted the room to be three times. They entered to find Ashley laying on a couch.

"What exactly happened, Mr. Black? Did she say or do anything that may have caused this?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well - We were - uh - talking about our future and stuff, and she said something like 'I wish I could find out what our future's gonna be like'. Maybe the room did something to show her?" suggested Sirius.

"Very possible, Mr. Black, very possible indeed," responded Dumbledore thoughtfully.

"So - She's in the future?" asked James.

"I believe so, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore replied, keeping his eyes on Ashley.

"Er - Then what do we do?" James asked.

"We wait until her trip to the future is over," Dumbledore replied, "Thanks, Poppy, but I think we'll be okay here."

"Yes, headmaster," Madam Pomfrey nodded and left.

Just then Ashley spoke. "Sirius! Sirius! Nooo!"

"Er - That doesn't sound so great," James muttered. Sirius shot him a look and walked over to her. He held her hand and stroked her hair. There was nothing more they could do.


	8. Futuristic Problems

_**Futuristic Problems**_

A day. I've been in 1982 for a whole day, and now I'm going to see Sirius from the future. But what about Sirius from the past? Is he okay? He must be worried sick! She woke up at the Leaky Cauldron and got ready to go meet Sirius.

"How will I meet him, sir? And where?" Ashley asked Dumbledore as they left the pub together.

"Well, you'll be going to a small station just outside of Azkaban. Ministry Cars will take you there. The speed of those cars should make the ride about five minutes long," Dumbledore replied.

"Thank you so much, Professor!" Ashley said gratefully as she got in the car.

"Good luck, Ashley," Dumbledore responded, and waved her goodbye. The car went so fast that she thought she would surely puke. After around five minutes, it stopped, and, shakily, she got out.

She walked into a small, gray, one story place. Inside, there were gray walls, two chairs and a table. "Just lovely," Ashley muttered.

Then, a tall auror with almost white hair and brown eyes entered the room. "Mr. Black will be in in a moment."

"Uh, thanks."

Just then, Sirius Black entered the room, one auror in front of him, one in back of him. He wore handcuffs, his hair was longer and crazed, he looked pale and sickly. But this was the man she fell in love with, and the man she would love forever.

"Sirius!"

"A - Ashley. Y - You're alive!"

"No. I'm from 1977. Dumbledore said I was here to observe and go back to change what is. But what happened? How did you get here? Oh, look at you!" Ashley rambled. She walked close and hugged him, and gave him a quick kiss.

"1977, eh? What date?" Sirius asked skeptically.

"November 12, 1977. Remember what that is, don't you?" Ashley asked.

"How could I forget? That was our one month anniversery," Sirius said, and for a second, the boyish smile she had remembered crossed his face.

"What happened on our one month anniversery that you remember?" Ashley questioned.

"Well, we pretty much spent the day on Hogwarts grounds. By the lake and such," Sirius replied, remembering.

"That's why! In my time we were going to go outside, and then we passed the Room of Requirement so we went in, and we started talking about the future and stuff, and I accidently said something that made me come here."

"We talked about the future by the lake too. I remember it like it was yesterday. That was the day I knew I wanted you to be the girl I married and had kids with," Sirius replied quietly.

"Really? Were we married? Did we have any kids?" Ashley asked eagerly.

"We were engaged. And then Voldemort, that son of a bitch, and stupid Peter had to ruin everything! Not to mention that jackass, Tyler."

"Tyler, Who's Tyler? And wait-Did you say Wormtail? Peter as in our friend, Peter Pettigrew?"

"He's no friend of mine. _He_ betrayed us all. _He_'s the reason you're all dead!_ He's_ why I'm in Azkaban._ He_ is why I lost the love of my life."

"Is Peter a - a Death Eater?"

"Pretty much," replied Sirius solemnly.

"What could I do to change this?" Ashley asked, holding his hands.

"Don't let Peter be the secret-keeper. Volunteer to do it yourself," Sirius said, after a moment of thought.

"Secret-keeper?" Ashley asked, confusedly.

"Don't trust Peter. We're in seventh year now, right? He's probably all ready a Death Eater, or close to becoming one. Warn us all of what Peter is becoming. Especially Dumbledore," Sirius said, ignoring her question.

"I will, Sirius. One question before I go," Ashley said with a smile. Sirius nodded, telling her to continue, "Do you love me?"

Sirius smiled. "Always and forever."

Ashley glowed a yellowish color and was gone.

**_AUTHORS NOTE: _**Sorry this is so short, but I wanted to put _something_ up in the meantime.


	9. Home Sweet Home

_**Home, Sweet Home**_

Ashley woke with a start. "S - Sirius!"

"Ashley? Oh, thank merlin!" She hugged him for a second, and jumped up.

"James!" she ran over and gave him a huge hug.

"Whoa, Ashley, you were only out for an hour or so," said James.

"It was horrible! I said I wish I knew what the future was like, and it was awful!" Ashley cried.

"What happened?" Sirius asked, directing her to the couch.

"Er - Sirius - You were - You were in Azkaban. It was so horrible! I visited you in 1982. We were engaged but you were arrested for a crime you didn't commit and I was - I was murdered!"

"You were killed?" Sirius asked fearfully, turning white.

"Yes. I was dead. James was dead. Lily was dead. We were killed together. Oh god! I almost forgot! It's Peter! Peter - He's a death eater!" Ashley cried, blinking back tears. They probably thought she was crazy.

"There's got to be some sort of mistake. Peter isn't capable of that," Sirius whispered, still white as a ghost.

"You told me yourself! It was a month after James, Lily, and I died. You told me what happened. Please - Professor! You know the room wouldn't lie! I was sent into the future, and you told me that I was probably there to change it! Can't we do _something_ to try to catch Peter?" Ashley begged desperately.

"If that is what you saw, then it is most likely true. However, we cannot just arrest Mr. Pettigrew, so I'll do all that I can to try to see if he is indeed a Death Eater," Dumbledore replied softly.

"Oh, and in the future, Sirius told me not to make Peter the...what was it...Secret Keeper? He told me to volunteer to do it myself," Ashley shrugged.

"Guess we'll worry about that one when the time comes," said James, looking a bit less frightened.

"I guess so. But please guys, don't mention this to Lily or any of them! I don't want to upset them. It's bad enough that you two know what your futures hold. Maybe we could change it if only the three of us know," Ashley begged. Sirius and James nodded in agreement.

A week later, Ashley's life was getting back to normal. She was starting to feel better about what she saw in the future, and she was now sure that they would be able to change it. Sirius and James were shaken for quite a while, but they were starting to get over the shock, and taking Ashley's point of view. The gang steered clear of Peter. They were so shocked and appalled, but he didn't notice much because he wasn't hanging around much anymore. Everyone else wondered why, but Ashley, Sirius, and James knew very well why he wasn't hanging out with them so much anymore.

It was around 12:00 a.m. on a Wednesday morning in the common room. The only ones there were Ashley and Sirius.

"Sirius - I want to stop worrying about the future. I want to live for today. Forget about the past. Forget about the future. I just want to live in the present, and see where life takes us. Hopefully I know enough for us to save the future, but we'll worry about that stuff when the time comes. We have almost a year to worry about that, and I can't go on living each day, thinking that I could lose you at any second. It's too much," she said somberly.

"You think you're scared? I'm a nervous wreck! I haven't a clue how I'd survive if you - if you - Ugh, I can't think about it anymore!" Sirius cried.

"Well, then we won't think about it anymore," Ashley said simply.

"I love you so much," Sirius whispered.

"Always and forever," Ashley whispered back with a smirk.

Two days later, Friday, Ashley awoke in the best mood she had been in all week. She woke up, humming to herself as she got ready and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. On the way down, she saw Sirius waiting for her in the common room.

"Hey, sweetie," Sirius said pleasantly.

"Hi, Sirius." They held hands as they walked downstairs. On the way there Ashley heard her name being mentioned, so she slowed down to listen to where it was coming from. Behind the wall she was at, she heard a couple of girls voices.

"How dumb is she? Does she actually think she can change a guy like Sirius? He's the biggest player there is!" came the voice of Jolene Abraham, a seventh year Ravenclaw.

"He seems to care about her," said a girl with a soft voice.

"Get real, Delaney! I bet I could get him to cheat in 24 hours," Jolene replied.

Ashley looked over to Sirius, who looked as if he'd been punched in the stomach.

"I doubt that, Jolene," Ashley said cruely, coming out from behind the wall.

"Oh! Ashley!" Delaney squealed.

"Hello, Delaney. Hello, Jolene. If you have any comments about Sirius and I, I'd prefer you tell me to my face, thanks assholes," Ashley said coldly. With one last scowl she gripped Sirius' hand and continued to walk. When they were close to the staircase Sirius stopped walking.

"I want to change my reputation," Sirius stated earnestly.

"Sirius - I know that you've changed. I know you love me, okay? As long as I know you're faithful, then who gives a damn about other people?" Ashley asked, looking up into his grey eyes.

"Er - Can you meet me in the Astronomy Tower after dinner tonight?" Sirius asked hushedly.

"Uh - Sure, Sirius. Let's go to breakfast."

Potions was first that day, and they were beginning Healing and Protection Potions.

"Can anyone tell me what Vervain is?" Slughorn asked brightly. "Ashley?"

"Vervain is one of the most important remedies for wounds that protects people from metal weapons," Ashley replied, without really paying any attention.

"Excellent. Five points to Gryffindor."

"Today our potions main herb will be, as you may be able to guess, Vervain," said Slughorn cheerfully.

Ashley heard James mumble, "Good, I can hardly wait." and Lily shot him a reproachful look.

Finally it was time for the last class of the day, Muggle Studies. "You will have a homework project coming up. Not a big deal, but I'll give you until Friday to hand it in. The project is about any muggle object and how it is used. I'll explain more tomorrow, but in the meantime, do try to research muggle objects." the bell rang and classes were over.

After dinner Ashley looked around for Sirius, but he had already gone to the Astronomy Tower, so quickly without anybody noticing, she hurried off after him.

"Oh, Sirius!" Ashley squealed fondly. There were candles lit everywhere and rose petals covering the floor. "What's the occasion?"

"It's just that...I love you, Ashley. And I know that we're trying not to think about it, but the future seemed horrible, and I don't want to waste a second. I'm glad we're getting the chance to fix everything that's yet to come. But, I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I'm not saying that we should do it now, but once we graduate - Would you marry me?" Sirius got down on one knee and opened up a black velvet box. There was the most beautiful diamond ring Ashley had ever seen. Engraved on the inside was "Always and Forever". Ashley felt ready to cry.

"I love you so much Sirius. It's beautiful, and you're incredible. Yes, Yes, I'll marry you!"

"YES!" cried Sirius happily as he slid the ring onto her finger, and they kissed. After a couple of minutes, Ashley pulled away.

"Er - Do you want to take this somewhere else?" Ashley asked with a small blush.

"Yeah! Wow, uh, Let's go!" Sirius said, his eyes wide. He grabbed Ashley's hand and they dashed out of the Astronomy Tower.

**_AUTHORS NOTE: _**I loved writing this chapter. It was a lot of fun.


	10. The Next Day

_**The Next Day**_

"Wow," Sirius whispered.

"Yeah. Wow," Ashley whispered back. "Think any of them heard us?"

"Doubt it. They all sleep like rocks," Sirius replied. He stood up and pulled on his boxers. "I'm going to get in the shower. Er - Your clothes are...everywhere," Sirius mumbled, pointing to the various places where Ashley's clothing was.

"I'm gonna sneak back into my dormitory and shower. Hopefully nobody's awake yet," said Ashley gathering her clothes. She pulled on her bra and panties, and that's when the worst possible thing happened.

"Er - Nice attire." Ashley and Sirius looked over to James, who had just woke up.

Ashley flushed a color so red that she looked ready to explode. Sirius was pretty red himself.

"Uh - Here's your shirt, Ash," said James, picking up a t-shirt from his bed and throwing it to her.

"Th - Thanks," she mumbled.

"So is sleeping together a new thing or do you do this often?" James joked. Ashley scowled at him.

"Should we tell him the news?" Sirius asked Ashley.

"Sure, Why not?" Ashley replied with a smirk.

"Tell me what?" James asked.

"Oh, we can only tell you if you swear to never speak to anyone of this again," replied Ashley with a small blush.

"Fine, now tell me!"

Ashley showed him her left hand.

"Ohmigod. You guys - You two are getting married?"

"Oh no - That's not Sirius'. I only sleep with Sirius. Never would I dream of marrying him," Ashley replied sarcastically.

"Haha. Wow - Congratulations, guys. Was last night a...celebration?" James asked with curiousity. Ashley scowled at him as she put her shirt on.

"Er - Where's my skirt?" Ashley asked sheepishly.

"The foot of Remus' bed," replied James, pointing.

"Thanks," she said silently. She dashed over and pulled on her skirt.

"James - Could you please lend me the cloak? I don't want anyone to see my coming out of here," Ashley mumbled quietly.

"Yeah, sure. Here," said James, pulling the cloak out of his trunk and tossing it to her. She thanked him, said bye to Sirius, pulled on the cloak, and left.

Ashley couldn't stop from smiling as she crept back into her dormitory. Thankfully, everyone was still asleep. She crept into the bathroom and took a quick shower. When she got out, Lily was awake.

"And where were you all night?" asked Lily.

Deciding to let Lily know, Ashley sat on her bed, and showed her the ring.

"Oh my gosh. Y - You. And - And Sirius! Tell me everything!" Lily burst with excitement.

"Well, he told me to meet him in the Astronomy Tower after dinner last night so when I went, there were rose petals and candles everywhere! And then he gave a small speech, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him! After school - of course, but still! I can't get over it! I'm going to be Mrs. Sirius Black. Mr. and Mrs. Black. Ah, I can't get enough of it!" Ashley said happily. Then, she got serious. "Lily?"

"Yeah?" Lily said with a smile. She was so happy to see Ashley like this.

"W - Will you be my maid of honour?" Ashley asked with a small smile.

"Oh really? Yes, I'd love to!" Lily squealed with joy. "Er - Did you and Sirius...last night?"

"Possibly," Ashley said with a smile, and the girls headed to breakfast.

By the time breakfast was over, Remus, Alaina, James, Lily, Fallon, Alice, and Erica knew of the engagement. They all promised not to tell a soul, and the only one that may let it slip was Fallon. When breakfast was over, Sirius led Ashley outside. They sat down on a rock under a tree.

"Last night was...amazing," stated Sirius.

"Yeah, it was," Ashley replied, and they started to kiss again. "Sirius?"

"Yes?" Sirius replied.

"How long have you had feelings for me?" Ashley asked curiously.

"Since the day we met," Sirius replied honestly.

"Really? Wow. What about...love? How long have you loved me?"

"Third year," Sirius replied automatically.

"Oh, wow. And I never even knew," Ashley said to herself quietly.

"I hid it well," Sirius said with a smirk.

"That you did. Wow, can you believe that in a year from now, we could possibly be married?" Ashley marvelled.

"I know, it's wonderful. Maybe your sister, Samantha, can be the flower girl," Sirius suggested.

"That's a great idea. Lily can be Maid of Honour, and James could be best man. I could get Brian to be the ring bearer," Ashley added, referring to her brother. "I'd have to make Jess, Alyssa, Nicole, Brooke, and Lauren to be bridesmaids."

"And Josh, Dylan, and Chris could be ushers," finished Sirius. "Where would you want to have it?"

"Well, I was thinking of using my backyard, seeing as it has that little gazibo for us to exchange vows and theres the huge tents for food and such. And then that huge concrete area in the front for dancing," Ashley replied.

"Sounds lovely. Does all of your family know about the whole wizard thing?" Sirius asked.

"All of my mum's relatives do, because she's pureblood, and all the relatives on my dad's side that are going to be at the wedding know. Dad's mom was the first witch of that family line," responded Ashley, thinking.

"After school ends we can find a place to live," Sirius said thoughtfully.

"Well, my mom bought me a house to move into after the school year. It's about five blocks from her house. Three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, livingroom, kitchen, dining room, basement, attic, family room, and den," Ashley replied off of memory.

"Wow, how rich are your parents?" Sirius asked in amazement.

"Uh - Pretty rich. More than half of it was inhereted though. Er - Would you maybe want to spend the Christmas Holidays with me? We could tell my parents and go over wedding plans and stuff," Ashley asked quickly.

"Yeah, sure! I'd like that. Maybe we could check out that house," Sirius replied with a grin.

"Well, my mum bought it already and did the basic renovations so - er - it's probably ready," Ashley replied, returning the grin.

"Is there furniture?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, but only in the main rooms. Livingroom, kitchen, and in the master bedroom. My parents put it in there until it was time for me to pick out furniture," Ashley replied.

"So could we - Could we live there during the break? Give us a taste of married life," Sirius said.

"Sure."


	11. Family and Future

_**Family and Future**_

James, Sirius, Remus, Ashley, Lily, Alaina, Fallon, and Erica were on the train going home for Christmas break.

"So what's new with you guys?" Lily asked Alaina and Remus.

"Oh, you won't get an answer out of Alaina. She's mad at me again," Remus said wearily.

"You just did it again!" Alaina snapped nastily.

"What on Earth did I do? Talk to Lily? Or tell someone you're mad? What is it I did? What?" Remus asked intolerantly.

"Like you give a damn!" Alaina said loudly.

"If I didn't care, why would I bother asking?" Remus asked mildly.

Alaina mumbled something, and they continued arguing. Finally, they went across the hall into an empty compartment to argue some more.

"What's up with Alaina? She's acting so odd," Fallon stated.

"She's just going through some stuff at home," Ashley mumbled, remembering a conversation she had with Alaina recently.

"Is she okay?" Erica asked.

"I hope so," Ashley said. She looked over to Alaina who was stalking out of the compartment and headed to the bathroom.

"Any wedding plans yet" Fallon asked excitedly, changing the subject.

"You, Erica, Alice, and my sisters should be the bridesmaids," Ashley said kindly.

"Wow really? Is it okay to have nine bridesmaids?" Erica asked.

"Eight. Sam's a flower girl. And hey - If I want eight, eight it'll be," Ashley said with a smile. The gang continued to talk until the train came to a stop, and they were at King's Cross. Ashley said good-bye to all of her friends, and grapsed Sirius' hand. After a couple moments of searching, Ashley saw Jessica, her eldest sister.

"Jessie!" Ashley cried, hugging her sister.

"Hey, Ash! We missed you so much! And you must be Sirius!" Jessica said after she let go of Ashley. She held out her hand and he shook it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You too," Jessica said politely.

"You cut your hair? It looks great. Ooh, and contacts! You look your age now," Ashley commented. Her sister's hair was blonde, layered, and shoulder length now. Her pale blue eyes, which were normally hidden behind black rimmed glasses, were now much more noticable. She looked like a brand new person.

"Yeah, this little make-over worked wonders. Around the time you went back to school I met a guy named Jared. He owns a Quidditch shop that does amazingly well. He'll be at dinner tonight," Jessica said happily.

"Congratulations, Jess," Ashley said. Just then, Dylan, Alyssa, and Nicole came toward them. They talked for a minute or two and finally, Christian, Brooke, and Lauren joined them.

"It'll be a tough squeeze," Lauren commented, looking at the van.

"Ah, that can be easily fixed, Laurie," Jessica said with a smile. She mumbled a spell and the car size quadrupled.

"That's more like it," said Alyssa. There were doorways, a small kitchen, and even a bathroom.

"Er - Let's go in the back," Ashley whispered to Sirius. He nodded and they walked into the fourth and last compartment. Ashley quickly locked the door. "What are we going to tell my parents?"

"Just be honest and tell them the truth over dinner," Sirius replied with a shrug.

"Merlin, I hope they'll be happy about this. I can never tell with them. I'm 99 sure my mum will be okay with it, but with my dad - more of 75 sure. I never know with him. Boy, it's a good thing he likes you."

"He does?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, yeah. Says your funny and pretty bright too," Ashley replied. "Oh, and just a couple of little quick facts before you see my family for the first time in over a year:Josh and his wife are months away from the birth of their child, Jessica supposedly got a makeover and now has some amazing boyfriend, Gabrielle started dance class in a muggle town so I'm really sorry if she bores you with dance lectures. She acts double her age, she's pretty smart. Samantha is pretty easy to get along with. She's sort of a tomb boy and brutally sarcastic. Brian is obsessed with all muggle and wizarding sports. And you pretty much know Lauren, Chris, Brooke, Nikki, Lyssa, and Dylan."

"Okay, thanks for the heads up," Sirius said with a nervous grin.

"Oh, don't worry, Sirius. As long as I'm okay with all of this, that's all that matters. Who cares about what my parents have to say?"

"Yeah - Okay." They went back up front with the rest of the family and talked the rest of the way there. Finally, the car came to a stop, and all of the kids jumped out. Mrs. Benedettis was at the door waiting to greet all of her children. She looked good for her age with long blonde hair and big blue eyes. She was quite tall and very pretty. She welcomed all of her kids into the house and then Ashley and Sirius, who were the last to enter.

"Ah, Sirius! So wonderful to see you, dear! How have you been?" Mrs. Benedettis asked cheerfully.

"Very well, thank you, Mrs. Benedettis, and you?" asked Sirius politely.

"Very good, thanks. Ah, no need to be so formal. You can call me Brenda," said Mrs. Benedettis with a smile.

"Mum? Do - Do you think it will be all right if we stay at my place? It's just awfully crowded in the house, and I don't want to add to the burden of having all the kids home," Ashley asked quietly.

"I suppose it's fine with me, dear. Drive over there and unpack, but be back by 6:30. That's when dinner will be served," Mrs. Benedettis said.

"Thanks mum!" Ashley said, hugging her mum. When she let go, her mum handed her the keys to the house and car. Ashley and Sirius dashed out of the house and he followed her to the garage where her car was parked.

"Nice car," Sirius said.

"Thanks. Er - How do you know anything about cars?" Ashley asked, getting into the silver mustang.

"Er - I used to talk to a lot of muggle girls in the neighborhood," Sirius replied sheepishly.

"Ah. Should have known," Ashley whispered jokingly.

They drove down a couple of blocks, and finally stopped at a decently large stone house.

"It's about a fourth of the size of my folk's place, but it's pretty nice. Really cozy," Ashley said, getting out of the car and walking to the front door. They stepped inside of the house, and flipped on the light. There was a front room and directly across was a wall, where there was a small drawer and mirror. To the left was the living room and to the right was the kitchen. Ashley and Sirius walked into the living room and in the back left corner was a doorway to the family room. On the right side was a half wall with two stools that was right next to the kitchen. The living room had a TV, a couch, a recliner, a rocking chair, a fireplace, an area rug, two lamps, two end tables, and a laptop computer on a desk. In the very back was the stiarcase. They went into the family room which was pretty bare, aside from an old TV, a desk, and a computer. They went upstairs and found four doors on the left and three on the right. The left had a half bathroom, bedroom, and a closet. The right had two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

"This is fantastic! One full bathroom for you, one for me, and then one for guests. Let's go see what they did with the master bedroom," Ashley said walking to the main bedroom. It had a red whine colored carpet, a king sized bed with red and white flannel covers, a TV, a vanity, a desk with a computer, a walk-in closet and a regular sized one.

"It's perfect," Sirius said with a smile. Then, there was a loud meowing. Ashley looked down at her feet. She saw her two cats, Dexdral and Linky.

"Hungry, guys?" she asked them. Dexdral was an all black cat at the age of 4, and Linky was white with brown spots, and two years old. "Do you mind getting our trunks and Squiggles and Sticks while I feed them?" Ashley asked.

"No problem," Sirius replied, and they all went downstairs. Ashley remembered her mom saying something about cat food, but where had she put it? She checked every cupboard, and finally found it.

She fed the cats, and when Sirius brought in her owls, Squiggles and Sticks, she quickly scribbled three quick notes. She attatched two to Squiggles and said "Take one to Lily and one to James." She attatched the third to Sticks and said "Take this to Remus."

"What are those for?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Oh, I'm letting them know the address so that they can floo over," Ashley responded. "What time is it?"

Sirius checked the clock. "4:27."

"Two hours until we have to go back to my parent's. Let's unpack. Ooh, I have a surprise for you!" Ashley said excitedly.

"Really?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"Yeah, but let's unpack first." And so they unpacked quietly. When they were done, they headed back downstairs. "Okay, I left it in the car, I'll be back in two seconds."

"Okay," Sirius replied excitedly.

A moment later she returned with two wrapped boxes. The one on the bottom was sort of large and the one on top was rather small. "Open the top one first," Ashley told him. With a small nod, he picked up the box that fit in the palm of his hand and tore the paper. There was a small box and he lifted the lid. He picked up a silver chain with a pawprint on it. On the front it said Padfoot and on the back it said Always & Forever.

"Th - This is great, Ashley. I love it," Sirius stated with a broad grin. "Can you put it on for me?" he asked. Ashley nodded with a smile and put the necklace on.

"I'm glad you like it. Now open this one," Ashley said, handing him the big one. Sirius opened it and saw an album.

"What is it?" Sirius asked, looking at the cover.

"It's a scrap book. Look through it!" Ashley said with excitement.

Sirius turned to the first page. The pictures started in first year and went all the way to a month ago. "Wow, Ashley. This is amazing. I absolutely love it," Sirius said, looking at the last pages.

"I'm glad you do. I need to talk to you. I've finally decided what I want to do with my life," Ashley stated with a smile, looking at Sirius.

"Really? Tell me the plan," Sirius said, closing the scrapbook.

"I want to open my own line of clothing for witches and wizards. I want to run my own office and publish a fashion magazine. I could get other designers to work with me to sell a magazine promoting our work."

"That sounds great. I'm sure your parents could help you with loans and all," Sirius suggested.

"Yeah, I know. I'm going to need a few start up loans, and any worker who's interested. I talked to my sisters about it, and a couple of them and their friends are interested. I - I've already picked out a name," Ashley grinned.

"Really? What?"

"Magestic Designs," Ashley replied after a moment of thought.

"Sounds really great. I'm sure it'll happen, sweetie. I've seen the sketches of the designs you've done, and you've got talent."

"Thanks, Sirius. But what about you? What do you want to become?"

"Maybe an auror," Sirius replied after a moment or so.

"Really? That'd be a wonderful job," Ashley agreed with a nod of approval. "Sirius?"

"Yes?"

"Do you believe that we can change the future?" Ashley asked slowly.

"Absolutely," Sirius replied simply.

An hour later, they headed out to Ashley's family's house. Carletta, the maid, welcomed them into the house. She took their coats, and offered them drinks in the sitting room. "Carla? Where's dad?"

"Ooh, he's in his study," Carletta replied with a nod toward the study door. Ashley motioned for Sirius to follow here, and she knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"DADDY!" Ashley yelled happily.

"Hey, munchkin. How've you been?" Mr. Benedettis replied, hugging his daughter.

"Great, dad. How about you?" Ashley asked, sitting on the study couch.

"Fine, fine. Ah, Sirius! Excellent to see you m'boy! Please, have a seat!" Mr. Benedettis said, gesturing toward the couch.

"Thank you, sir," Sirius said, pleased that Mr. Benedettis seemed to like him.

"What a polite young man, you are," Mr. Benedettis commented, shaking his hand.

"Okay, Ashley. Your mother and I have been talking about your future. We know that you want to create that clothing line, and we've decided to hand over a start-up loan of 6,000 galleons, without question. If you end up needing more, we'll organize meetings to talk about that. We'll give that to you the day after you're finished at school. I'm assuming that you two are serious about one another?"

Ashley touched the engagement ring she had stashed in her pocket. "Yes, daddy. Very serious."

"Good. Maybe you guys can settle down like Josh did with his Hogwarts girlfriend. Look at them, happily married with a baby on the way, and both are successful at work.

"Thanks so much, dad!" Ashley cried, hugging her father.

"No problem, angel. Ah, and darling? This one's a keeper, stay with him," Mr. Benedettis said, nodding toward Sirius.

"Oh, I will dad. Don't worry about that," Ashley said, looking at Sirius.

"Ok then, let's go to dinner," Mr. Benedettis said, ushering them out of the room. They entered the large dining room. Everyone was seated except for Ashley, Sirius, and Mr. Benedettis. They all sat down, and Jessica was rambling about work.

"...So then Camdyn walked in and quit so Nadine let me replace her! Just right there on the spot! I'm getting three extra galleons an hour now! And I actually get to hire an assistant, do you believe that? I'm holding interviews for the job a week from Monday!"

"That's excellent, dear. And what about you, Jared? How's work been?" Mrs. Benedettis asked.

"Very good, thanks. We got an early stock in the new Comet supply. They're what everyone's after these days, so young Quidditch players have been bombarding the store for a week now! It's the busiest week we've had in months!" Jared replied proudly.

"Really? Do any famous Quidditch players come to the shop?" Brian asked with interest.

"On ocassion. On Tuesday the captain of the Tutshill Tornados came in looking for the latest brooms for his team. And just last month the keeper of the Kenmare Kestrels came in searching for some new protective equiptment. Took a nasty bludger to the head in his last game, poor bloke. But that's Quidditch," Jared replied with a grin.

"Glad you're shop is doing so well, Jared. Good man for my daughter," said Mr. Benedettis with deep approval in his voice.

"What about you, Joshy? How are things at work?" Mrs. Benedettis asked.

"Same as usual. A muggle saw a part of the Quidditch game last Saturday, so we had to call in the obliviators a.s.a.p. I swear, sometimes they just come out of nowhere," Josh said, with a shake of his head.

"And how about you, Anna?" Mrs. Benedettis asked Annabelle, Josh's pregnant wife.

"Well, I've just started maternity leave, so I'm not quite sure how things are going at the office," Annabelle replied with a shrug.

"Mum - Dad. Er - I've got something I want to say," Ashley stated uneasily. She felt ready to puke. Maybe her parent's wouldn't be okay with this. Maybe they'd disown her and take away the loan to get her started on her dream job. Maybe -

"Yes, pumpkin?" Mr. Benedettis said, looking at her intently. Everyone was looking at her, except Sirius, who was looking at her father.

"Well - uh - The thing is - Mum...Dad...Sirius and I are getting married after graduation," Ashley blurted out quickly.

The table was silent for a moment or so. Everyone was now staring from Mr. Benedettis to Ashley, back and forth. Mrs. Benedettis looked like she was trying to speak, but was afraid her husband would blow up. She looked at Ashley with pity, as if her daughter were about to die a slow, painful death. Mr. Benedettis stared at Ashley. He looked at her as though he had never seen her before. _I'm dead_, she though mournfully.

"Well...Er - Congratulations!" Mr. Benedettis said after what seemed like an eternity.

"Really? Oh merlin, thanks dad!" Ashley said, sounding incredibly relieved. She took the ring out of her pocket and slipped it back onto her finger.

"So...Do you guys have a plan?" Josh asked.

"Yes, we do. After school's over were going to move back into my house. I'm going to try to find a place that I can buy to be my office building. After everything is semi-functional, we'll have the wedding, that way I can have some money in my pocket for when we buy more furniture and really personalize the house. I'm thinking possibly six months from June until we have the wedding. I've always wanted a winter wedding. And while I'm getting my business up and running, we can work on wedding plans. That way I can wait until after school is over to worry about wedding plans, seeing as this is the final year, and I've got to focus on my studies at the moment," Ashley replied in a business-like tone. Sirius thought she was handling this all amazingly well, but only he could tell she just made the "plan" up off the top of his head.

"Excellent, darling. You two are going to go far in life if you plan ahead like this. I'm glad you two have got brains in your head," Mr. Benedettis said satisfiedly.

"Thanks, dad," Ashley said with a tone of relief.

"Can I see the ring, Ashley?" Jessica asked.

"Sure," Ashley said, holding out her left hand.

"It's beautiful, Sirius. Good choice," Jessica said, looking at the ring.

"Thanks, Jessica."


	12. Back to School

_**Back to School**_

When Christmas Vacation was over, Jessica and Jared drove them all back to Kings Cross. Ashley went back much more relieved then when she came. Sirius too felt a great deal of relief, and even joy. Going back to school meant that there were only six months left and then after another six months, he and Ashley could be married. If they lived that long, that is. No, they both believed that they could change the future, and that's what they were going to do.

James, Remus, and Lily had made several visits during the holidays and they were all glad to hear that Ashley's parents had been okay with the engagement. Sirius had taken off randomly a couple of times, and Ashley just thought he was being moody, because he could be quite moody at times. But then again, she could be at times too.

They arrived back to Hogwarts on a Friday night, which was great because they had the weekend to reflect on their vacations before they had to go back to school. That night as they were going to bed, Sirius held Ashley back.

"What's the matter?" she asked him quietly as she watched Lily going to their dorm, and James going to his.

"Do you think we can be really quiet?" Sirius whispered.

Ashley laughed. "We can try."

Ashley and Sirius quickly went up the stairs. The only person still awake was James.

"Ugh - Can you guys have the courtesy to wait until I fall asleep?" James asked as he pulled down the covers to his bed.

"Can you hurry?" Sirius said with a grin.

"Horny little pig," James muttered.

"What was that?" Sirius asked, knowing very well what he said.

"Nothing," James replied, shaking his head and climbing into bed. "'Night."

"Night, James," Ashley said with a grin. James made a gagging motion and covered his head with the blanket.

About an hour later, Ashley shivered. It was freezing outside and she wasn't wearing much.

"Cold?" Sirius asked.

"No, that's what I do when I'm hot," Ashley said sarcastically with a smile.

He smiled back. "So much sarcasm," he said as he handed her a long t-shirt.

"Thanks," she said pulling it on.

"If you're still cold, there's a pair of sweatpants on the floor by you," Sirius said.

"Thanks. I think this is okay," Ashley replied gratefully, and they fell asleep. The next morning when they woke up, Remus and James were already awake. Ashley jumped out of bed.

"Ah, Moony, she's actually wearing something this time," James joked.

"Very funny, you prat," Ashley said, trying to not smile.

"Er-How many times has this happened while I was asleep? I must be a heavy sleeper," Remus said to James.

"As far as I know, it's happened twice, but who knows? I may have slept right through other times," James replied with a shrug.

"It's been only twice," Ashley said honestly.

"Only twice in this room, that is," Sirius added with a yawn.

"Sirius!" Ashley scolded.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"So how many times all together?" James asked with a smirk.

"Shut up, Prongs!" Ashley said, looking back at James, and rolling her eyes. James looked over at Sirius and he held up six fingers. James raised his eyebrows, and the three guys laughed, especially at the fact that Ashley had no clue what they were laughing about. "Whatever, I'm going to change." She picked up her jeans and t-shirt and headed to the bathroom. When she finished changing, she left the dormitory, and went to her own.

Classes dragged on, boring as usual. Everyone was studying as hard as possible, preparing for their N.E.W.T.S. Lily and Remus practically lived in the library these days, and Ashley only came out a little bit more often then them. Ashley and Lily scolded James and Sirius for not studying harder.

"You don't even need to be studying that hard, Ashley! I hardly see you anymore! It's not like you're going to work at the Ministry where people need to look at your Hogwarts record to see how qualified you are. You're opening a business for yourself, where you're the boss, so you don't even need to live in the library," Sirius told her one evening while she was getting an attitude with him for trying to distract her from her work.

"No, but the people that I'm going to have to meet with to set up my business will look at my scores to see if I'm good enough for certain things! It wouldn't kill you to study, Sirius!" Ashley shot back, hardly looking up from her books.

"I'm studying plenty. Just because I still leave the library, doesn't mean that I'm not studying. There's a such thing as over studying, ya know!" Sirius replied nastily.

"Sirius, can you please not make a scene? You're distracting me and everyone else here from their studies," Ashley said, looking around at the other students who seemed to be losing concentration.

"Whatever," he said, getting up and leaving.

Within five minutes, Ashley had forgotten that they had an argument. She didn't see him again until the next day at breakfast. Then she had remembered their fight. She walked over to him, and said "Sorry."

"It's okay, I've just been being a jerk lately. It's good that you study," Sirius said with a wave of his hand.

"Thanks. I'll see you in class," she said and departed for class.

A month later and it was already the beginning of March. Ashley was walking around the second floor, when she bumped into Remus.

"Hi, Ashley," he said with a small wave.

"Hello, Remus. What's wrong?" Ashley asked. Just then, Filch came down the hall. Ashley grabbed Remus and they dove into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Oh, Hi Ashley!" Myrtle said brightly. Ashley was one of the few people that Myrtle liked in Hogwarts.

"Hey, Myrtle. How are you doing?" Ashley asked politely.

"Eh, I've been better. Glad to have you visiting," Myrtle said, happy to have some company.

"Thanks, Myrtle. Do you mind if Remus and I stay for a few minutes to hide from Filch?" Ashley asked hopefully.

"Not at all, make yourselves comfortable," Myrtle said, and she dove into the S-Bend.

"So, like I was asking, what's wrong?" Ashley asked, looking at Remus.

"Ugh, it's Alaina. She's so complicated lately. She's picking fights all the time, I can't take it much longer!" Remus said with a sigh.

"Sh - She's going through a lot of stuff right now," Ashley told him with a small frown.

"What kind of stuff?" Sirius asked nervously.

"Well, she doesn't really want anyone to know, but I suppose she'll have to tell you sooner or later. Her mum walked out on her family on Christmas. You know Alaina, she doesn't like when people make a big fuss over her, so she didn't tell anyone. I managed to force it out of her though. I was worried about her. She was doing much better until about two weeks ago when her parents filed for divorce. Her mum handed custody over without a fight or anything. She didn't seem to care in the least," Ashley replied sadly.

"Oh no. I feel so bad for snapping at her now," Remus said, frowning.

"It's not your fault. You didn't know," Ashley said with a shrug.

"Yeah, but still..."

"Come on. Let's go upstairs, or they'll all start to worry."


	13. Too Perfect

**Hey. This chapter took a while to get up because I started the sequel last night, and then a completely different story, but I managed to squeeze in time for this one too. Can you guys please start giving me some reviews? I'd really appreciate it! Thanks, and enjoy the chapter.**

_**Too Perfect**_

The months flew by faster than they could possibly imagine. March turned into April and April turned into May. The days soared and nobody knew exactly how to handle it. It was the beginning of June at dinner when Dumbledore made an announcement.

"Well, the year certainly has flown by. Graduation shall be on the 18th and then all of you seventh years will go on to pursue goals and careers. For graduation, the Head Boy and Head Girl make a brief speech together. At least one prefect from each house must make a speech also. I am now going to announce the chosen prefect to make the speech from each house. From Slytherin, Gretchen Griffith. From Ravenclaw, Cole Tate. From Hufflepuff, Troy Yates. And from Gryffindor, Ashley Benedettis. Have your speeches ready by graduation."

"A speech? I have to give a speech?" Ashley asked nervously.

"Don't worry. You'll be great," Sirius told her knowingly.

"How do you know?" she asked, looking a little more at ease.

"Cause you're great at everything. And you're an amazing writer," he responded, digging into his meal.

"Thanks, Sirius."

Ashley devoted the next week to writing the speech. Exams passed, and everyone was getting excited and planning their futures. Couples were a lot closer these days. Three other couples were engaged and a Ravenclaw girl was pregnant. Finally, at long last, it was June 18th. Students in seventh year and the teachers were led onto the Quidditch pitch. The benches were replaced with nice cushioned chairs. The field now had a stage. Dumbledore had mentioned putting a charm on the stage that magnified the voices of anyone who stood on it. Everything was decorated very nicely.

"Welcome, students. I am truly proud of all of your accomplishments here at Hogwarts. It's been an honour and a privelage to see you all grow over the years into the remarkable people that you are today. I'm sure you will all go far in life. I wish you all success and happiness," said Dumbledore, looking down at the faces of all the pupils. "Please welcome Mr. Troy Yates."

Everybody clapped and listened to Troy's speech. It only lasted for about a minute and a half. He looked very nervous and fidgety. People clapped out of respect, and then Dumbledore welcomed Gretchen Griffith. Gretchen, being a Slytherin, had a very positive and confident attitude. Her speech seemed to drag on though, and the deadly looks that she shot the Gryffindors were more than noticeable. Half of the audience clapped for her speech, and Dumbledore welcomed Cole Tate. Cole was fairly good looking and had a bright, confident smile. He recited his speech and threw in a joke or two, that got a couple of laughs from the audience. Everybody clapped, and then Ashley was welcomed to the stage. She was seriously nervous, but as soon as she walked out from behind the curtain, she forgot her fears, and crumpled up her speech. She decided to speak directly from the heart.

"Congratulations to everybody for making it here. I remember the day we came to Hogwarts, and it's simply incredible the ways that we've all changed. It's amazing how much we've learn and grown over the past seven years. Not only have we learned from our classes and teachers, but we've learned from ourselves and others. We've all learned from our mistakes, and have grown from them. If I had to sum this day up in one word, that word would be bittersweet. I've chosen that word because it's a day that we leave the only thing we've known for the past seven years, and let's face it, that's a scary thought. But on the other hand, this day really proves us to be adults. We'll all go on to be somebody in the world, and achieve things we never knew we could. Things that we had always dreamed about.Hogwarts was a big part of my life, as it was a big part of yours, and I'm going to miss it in a way that words can't describe. This was our home away from home for seven years, and it was a good home. Filled with friends that we'll never forget, and memories to last a lifetime."

There was a large applause and even a couple of Slytherins put their hands together. Ashley left the stage and sat at her seat by Sirius as Lily and James started their speech.

"You were amazing," Sirius told her.

"Thanks. I was so nervous though," Ashley replied with a small smile.

"It didn't show," he replied, and focused his attention on Lily and James. After their speech was over, Dumbledore returned to the centre of the stage. He called the name of each student as they came on the stage to say goodbye and get their diplomas. When graduation was over, Ashley, Lily, Sirius, and James took a walk by the lake.

"Where do we go from here?" Lily asked.

"I don't know," Ashley replied, lost in thought.

"I'm moving out of my parents house," Lily announced suddenly after a long pause.

"Really? Oh, congratulations, Lily! Where are you moving?" Ashley asked her.

"Well remember when I visited over the christmas break?" Lily asked excitedly. They all nodded their heads. "Well, I was in the front yard when I saw a bunch of 'For Sale' signs all over the block. I wrote down the number and called it as soon as I got home. I was speaking to the owner, we worked out a price, and together me and my family pooled the money for the house!"

"Oh my god! You'll be living in Godric's Hollow with us? This is great!" Ashley said, just as excited as Lily.

"Yeah, it is. James? Can I talk to you in private for a minute?" Lily asked anxiously. He nodded, looking confused and followed her.

"Dad wrote me today. He said he'd take us to look at furniture over the weekend. He also said that he was in Diagon Alley and he found available space for my work. He bought it, and said if I didn't like it, he was going to keep it for himself and open another shop or something."

"That's really great. I can't wait to see it," Sirius replied.

"And it's even more perfect because if I like it - And I'm sure I will - that means I pretty much have a job! It'll probably take a week or two to get the office ready. Then all I have to do is hire some workers, and we can devote the rest of the time to the wedding. Who knows, we could be married this year!"

"Really? That's wonderful!" Sirius said excitedly.

Just then, Lily and James rejoined them, grins plastered on their faces.

"What happened to you guys?" Ashley asked them.

"James and I are moving in together!" Lily told them with a large smile.

"Aww, congratulations!" Ashley said.

"Thanks. I can't believe this," James said happily. "It's too perfect."


	14. When the Truth Comes Out

**Hello! I hope people are reading my story and I'm not just wasting my time here, because I don't have any reviews . Aw well, maybe my story just sucks P. Well, here's the latest chapter.**

_**When the Truth Comes Out**_

The first week out of Hogwarts, everybody was extremely busy. James and Lily were moving in together, Ashley and Sirius were moving in together, Ashley was trying to start her job, Sirius, Lily, and James were looking for work. Remus was sleeping in Ashley and Sirius' basement while he looked for a place. Alaina too was looking for a job, and had been acting paticularly odd lately.

One day, the six of them were eating dinner at Ashley and Sirius' house when Alaina started randomly crying. That was the last straw for Remus. He looked confused and hurt that she still hadn't bothered to tell him what was going on. "Alaina-What's been going on lately? Do you not trust me enough to tell me whatever it is that's making you this moody?"

"It's not that, Remus! I swear! I just can't tell you because-because you'd get mad," Alaina replied in a tone just above a whisper.

"Alaina-I won't be mad. The only thing that could ever get me seriously mad at you is if you lied to me or betrayed my trust. Did you do any of those things?" Remus asked her cautiously.

"No-Not really," Alaina said after a moment or so of contemplation.

"Then just tell me, Lainy," Remus prodded softly.

"Fine Remus! I'm pregnant! Happy, darling?" she said helplessly.

"I-I'm going to be a father?" Remus said, not quite daring to believe his ears.

"Yes, Remus. In seven months or less," Alaina replied, looking at his face. She seemed to be trying to read his expression, but it wasn't possible. Nobody at the table could tell what his feelings were at the moment. "Please say something, Remus."

"F-Funny you should say that, A-Alaina because I was-I was going to ask you to be my wife tonight," Remus said in a distressed tone.

"Was?" Alaina asked looking crestfallen. The other four had quietly excused themselves from the dining room and ran toward the sitting room.

"Wait-No, that didn't come out right. I'll be by your side for this, Alaina. I love you, and I want to be in the baby's life. Here." Remus pulled out a little velvet navy blue box and popped it open. "Will you marry me?"

"Of course, Remus. I-I'm so glad you're okay with this. You're the best, I love you."

Aside from Remus and Alaina getting engaged, the rest of the month was quite boring. Ashley had managed to get her job up and running, she had already hired five people, and had about twenty more interviews that week. Lily and James were in the process of training to become an auror. Sirius had decided he didn't know what he wanted to do in life. He was looking at different job oppritunites with no luck. Alaina had landed a job in the Magical Law Enforcement squad at the ministry. Remus was deciding whether to become an auror, when he decided that he would like a job as a healer. After a month, Ashley was ready to start making wedding plans.

It was a sunny Saturday morning when Ashley, Alaina, Lily, Jessica, and Mrs. Benedettis started shopping for the wedding. Their first stop was flowers for the big day. They entered Cliffhart and Curry's, which was a desserted flower shop in Diagon Alley.

"'Ello there, Madam. Something I can help you with?" asked a short man, who looked to be in his late fourties.

"Hell, Mr. Curry. My daughter, Ashley, is getting married, so we're searching for flowers for the big day," Mrs. Benedettis replied, looking around the shop.

"Ah, we have a section for wedding flowers, just follow me," Mr. Curry said, leaving the front desk and waddling to the back of the shop. "See then, the flowers all have a distinguishing magical effect. For example, all the lilys glow a specific color. What's one main color you'll be having in the wedding, Miss?"

"Well, it's going to be a winter wedding hopefully, so blue," Ashley replied, planning out the time in her head.

"Right then," Curry said as he opened a freezer door and picked out a bouquet of lilies, all of which glowed blue. It was really beautiful. Ashley smiled at them, and said. "I want those."

"The roses come with hovering hearts, and you can get those in any color you like," Curry went on, happy to have made a sale.

"Really? Can I see them in blue?" Ashley asked excitedly.

"But of course," Curry said as he went back into the freezer and pulled out the roses which all had hovering blue hearts circling them.

"Okay, so we'll go with the lilies and the roses, right Ashley?" Mrs. Benedettis asked her daughter.

"Yeah," Ashley replied with a smile. They had already crossed one thing off the list. This was going quite well. Five minutes later, they were outside Cliffhart and Curry's, ready to do what was next on the list.

After a funfilled day of shopping, Ashley was happy to come back home and hang out with her husband-to-be.

"Hey stranger," Ashley said walking up to him and giving him a kiss.

"Hey, Ash. How was shopping?" Sirius asked as they walked into the living room.

"It was good, we got a lot of stuff done," she replied. "How was your day?"

"It was all right. Moony brought Alaina over, and she's off her rocker. Those bloody moodswings are taking effect," Sirius said with a sigh.

"I wonder when they'll be having their wedding?" Ashley wondered aloud.

"They said they're going to wait until after the baby is born, so maybe in a year or so," Sirius replied with a shrug.

"I can't believe they're having a baby. It's just so incredible. A year ago, they rarely spoke and now look at them," Ashley marvelled.

"Yeah, I know. It really is incredible," Sirius agreed.

"We really have to set a date, Sirius," Ashley said, bringing up the topic for the third time in a week.

"Yeah, I know. I had two dates in mind," Sirius told her, happy to have something to contribute to the wedding.

"Really? And what dates are they?" Ashley asked interestedly.

"January the first or...Valentine's day," Sirius said, which made Ashley giggle.

"I'd like having a wedding on the first day of the year. It'd be like starting over together. And plus, if we do it early enough in the day, we could be in the _Prophet_, for first wedding of the year," Ashley joked.

"Thank god you didn't pick Valentines Day," Sirius said, obviously relieved.

"Are you kidding me? To me, Valentine's Day is just a stupid Hallmark holiday that is used to make money. There's nothing really worth celebrating behind it," Ashley shrugged.

"What's Hallmark?" Sirius questioned curiously.

"Haha. Nothing to worry about, Sirius," Ashley said with a grin.

The next couple of months mainly consisted of Ashley working and shopping for the wedding, Lily and James getting closer and closer, and Alaina and Remus making baby preperations. Ashley and the girls had finally finished shopping for the wedding in September. On September 12th, Alaina and Moony headed to the hospital for a check-up.

"Ah. Good to see you, Miss Donahue. And you, Mr. Lupin," Healer Jaycott said kindly, making a note on her clipboard. She peered at them over her black square-rimmed spectacles.

"Thank you. So what are we checking out today?" Remus asked nervously.

"Well, I'm just going to have a look and see how the baby's doing. I'll be writing down the sex of the baby and the due date too," Healer Jaycott told them with a small smirk.

"You know the sex and date? Can we know?" Alaina asked excitedly.

"Sure. Let me just have a look in there," the healer replied. She tapped Alaina's stomach, and wrote something on her clipboard. Then, she tapped it again, and then tapped a small projection screen off to the side. "This is your son," the healer told them, pointing to the baby within Alaina.

"How the the hospital?" James asked as soon as Alaina and Remus walked in the door.

"Well...The baby is healthy," Alaina replied.

"And?" Lily continued.

"And it's due on January 11th," Remus replied.

"And?" Sirius pressed on.

"And what?" Alaina asked them knowingly.

"Oh please. You both know what we're waiting for. Is it a girl or a boy?" Ashley questioned, dropping the game and getting down to business.

"Aw, what fun would it be we if were to tell you?" Alaina asked with a giggle.

"So what do you propose? A game?" James asked, rolling his eyes.

"Ooh, that sounds interesting!" Alaina said merrily.

"Er-What kind of game, Lainy?" Lily asked cautiously.

"How about everyone puts one galleon on the kitchen table. You all get one minute to decide what it is. If you're wrong, we get the money. If you're right, you get to keep it," Alaina said, happy to have thought of a game so quickly.

"Ugh, fine, have it your way," Sirius muttered and they all put one galleon down. He put a silencing charm over them so they could discuss things privately

"It's a boy," Ashley stated flatly.

"How do you know?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I just do. I can tell by looking at her. Just trust me on this one," Ashley told them, looking at her watch. 35 seconds.

"I dunno, Ashley. I think it might be a girl," Lily said indecisively.

"It's not. Look, I don't know how I know, but it's a boy, I'd bet anything on it. Even this one," Ashley said, nodding toward Sirius. They all laughed for a second. 23 seconds.

"Come on, let's just go with a boy, Lily. If not, it's really only six galleons. Big deal, right?" Sirius pressed.

"I'm kind of scared of being correct. If Alaina gets angry that she lost-," Ashley didn't need to go on. Sirius nodded, knowing what she meant. Alaina was a bit on the scary side lately. "Ten seconds. We're going with boy, right?"

"Er-I guess," Lily mumbled. Ashley smiled, and removed the silencing charm.

"And your guess is?" Alaina said excitedly.

"Boy," they all said in unison.

"That's not fair! You-You cheated or something!" Alaina shouted angrily.

"Are you kidding me, Alaina? Who in their right mind would cheat? And how, anyway? It's not like any of us are healers, except Moony, but he didn't exactly share the sex of your son with us," James told her, rolling his eyes.

"James-Lighten up, she's pregnant," Ashley scolded in a whisper.

"Ugh, You all think I'm just some horrible monster, don't you? Wait until you're pregnant!" Alaina cried, pointing at Ashley and Lily. With that, she stormed out of the room in an angry rage. Remus gave an apolegetic look, and followed her.

"That was the worst game ever," Sirius mumbled, shaking his head. Ashley smiled and wrapped her arms around him.

"You know, we haven't seen Peter in almost a month," Lily realized.

"Let's keep it that way," Ashley muttered to Sirius. James walked over to them and mumbled, "I have to tell Lily."

"Tell her what?" Sirius and Ashley asked.

"About...the future. I can't hide it from her anymore," James told them.

"Well, if you think you have to, go for it, mate," Sirius replied, patting James on the back.

"Would you rather do it alone, or have us there?" Ashley asked him nervously.

"Er-I'd rather have you guys there if you don't mind," James said, looking at the floor.

"Of course we don't, Prongs. Just-Just have her sitting down first," Ashley warned, and James nodded. He whispered something to Lily and she followed to the sitting room. Ashley sat on Sirius' lap in the recliner, and James and Lily sat on the love seat.

"So-Uh-What's going on?" Lily questioned, scratching the top of her head.

And so they all took turned recounting what Ashley had seen and told them. Lily was completely speechless, and then she started awkwardly laughing.

"Lily-Um-What's so funny?" Ashley asked, looking at her as if she were nuts.

"You're not serious...Ugh, You are, Aren't you?" Lily asked, her eyes getting wide. Then, her emotions switched to anger. "And why didn't you tell me?" she asked James furiously.

"Well-I-,"

"I told him not to, Lily. I didn't want to worry you, I'm sorry," Ashley told her, shaking her head.

"Did you think that I couldn't handle it or something? Am I too dumb to understand this?" Lily questioned. She left in just as much of an agry rage as Alaina did.

"That couldn't have gone worse," Sirius said.

"She's not mad. She just uses anger to hide her real feelings when she's scared or upset," James assured them.

"Go home. Talk to her," Ashley said, nodding toward the door. James nodded and went out after Lily, who had probably found somewhere to apparate. Ashley and Sirius collapsed together on the couch and slept like that for hours and hours.


	15. A Year Later

_**A Year Later**_

A lot can happen in a year. More than you could possibly imagine. All though nothing was the same, everybody was happier than they thought possible. The only problem in this perfect world was the fact that Voldemort was getting larger and larger each and every day. He was gaining power faster than a speeding bullet. But everybody was as happy as they could be under the given circumstances.

Let's start with Ashley and Sirius, shall we? Seven months after they married, they gave birth to a daughter named Haley Lily Black. She was now five months old, and Ashley was already two weeks pregnant with child number two. Sirius had been in and out of different jobs until he finally decided to take a steady job at the ministry to help support the family. Ashley's job was going pretty good, and made enough money to support the family.

Lily and James had had an extremely small ceremony with under twenty people in their backyard, not long after Ashley and Sirius had their wedding. Amazingly enough, Lily had twins - a son named Harry James Potter and a daughter named Ashley Elizabeth Potter - on the same day that Ashley had Haley. She had named her daughter after her dearest friend, but they all called her Lizzie to avoid confusion. Lily and James were both incredible aurors, and were probably the most famous ones there, alongside Alice and Frank Longbottom, who ironically enough, gave birth to their son, Neville, the same day as Lily and Ashley.

Alaina and Remus had steady jobs themselves. They had a son named Lance Remus Lupin, who was born on January 10th, one day early. Fallon had married a man named Garret and they were pregnant with their first child. A boy, who was due in March. Erica had a boyfriend, who she had been seeing for almost a month, and his name was Niles.

Professor Dumbledore had formed the Order of the Phoenix, a group that was together to defeat Voldemort. All of the people mentioned before had joined, and many others. Lily, Alaina, and Ashley had met a kind woman named Molly who was ten years older then all of them. She had a husband named Arthur and six kids! She, like Ashley and Fallon, was pregnant too. Haley, Harry, and Lizzie played with three of Molly's kids. Ron, who was the same age as Haley, Harry, and Lizzie. And then Fred and George, who were only two years older.

It was now 1980, and Ashley and Lily were going nuts. One day while Sirius was out with Haley, Ashley ran next door to Lily's. Lily opened the door with Harry in one arm, and Lizzie in the other.

"Ashley - What's wrong?" Lily asked, looking nervous. She stepped aside, and gestured for Ashley to come inside. Ashley walked in and ran her hands through her hair.

"I'm going to Peter's," she stated, looking Lily directly in the eye.

"But-"

"No buts. I need to do this. I need to talk to him and tell him that I'm onto him," Ashley said, shaking her head.

"You're not going. You're pregnant," Lily said, looking at her as if she were insane.

"But I need to catch him, Lily!" Ashley said fustratedly.

"There may be a way," Lily said thoughtfully.

"What? How?" Ashley asked hopefully.

"Leglimency," Lily replied quietly, contemplating.

"But I don't know Leglimency!" Ashley cried helplessly.

"True. But hang on for a moment. Doesn't Professor Dumbledore? He's known it all these years, why couldn't he just read Peter?" Lily asked, putting the kids in their playpen. "It doesn't make sense."

"You're right. It doesn't," Ashley agreed, thinking hard. "Peter isn't too bright, is he?"

"No, he isn't, but what does that have to do with anything?" Lily questioned, still deep in thought.

"Well, he's coming over Saturday for the engagement party, right?" Ashley continued with a smirk.

"Yeah, so?" Lily said confusedly.

"Veritaserum, Lily! We can put him under Veritaserum and I dunno - tape record him. We can bring him into Dumbledore!" Ashley finished, glaring at her best friend.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" Lily said, clapping her hands together.

"Well, It takes a _lot_ of brilliance to come up with thoughts such as those in _my_ head, You've got to be a regular genius," Ashley joked, rolling her eyes. Lily laughed and the two began planning how to corner him, how to get the veritaserum in him, and other details.

Finally, it was the night of the party. Ashley was wearing a black dress, and complained to Lily that black was supposed to be slimming, but her bump was still noticeable. Lily rolled her eyes, and reminded her that there was a baby in there, and that she hadn't just got fat for no reason. Lily wore a green velvet dress, that really brought out her eyes. The guests began to arrive and finally (15 minutes late, I might add) Peter arrived.

"Hello, Peter! How have you been?" Lily asked brightly, taking his coat.

"I-I've been ve-very good, Li-Lily. Th-Thanks. And y-yourself?" Peter stuttered, looking very flustered.

"Great! Are you thirsty?" Lily asked hopefully, trying to seem casual.

"Su-sure," Peter stammered. He still hadn't managed to look her in the eye.

"I'll be back in a second with your drink," Lily said, and she walked over to Ashley. Lily poured the glass and turned around so nobody but Ashley could see her face. Ashley handed her the potion, and Lily poured it in. They walked over to Peter together, and made small talk while they watched him down his firewhisky. He finished, and put it in the trash.

Ashley tured around and winked at Sirius and James. This was their cue. The men walked over and said, "Hi, Peter!" Peter mumbled back a quick hello, and the guys said that they wanted to show him something they were working on upstairs. Peter reluctatly followed, with Ashley and Lily tailing him.

"Everything's ready?" Ashley whispered to Sirius.

"Yeah. Ask your questions," Sirius mumbled back.

"Peter. Are-Are you a Death Eater?" Ashley asked nervously.

"W-Well...Yes." Everyone exchanged looks that contained so many different emotions.

"For how long?" Lily continued.

"Almost two years," Peter replied, looking at the floor.

"Have you been feeding Voldemort information about the Order?" James pressed on, hurt filling his eyes.

"Yes."

"Where is Voldemort?" Sirius questioned, looking at Peter viciously.

"He's...He's...In Bristol. Waiting for the time to be right..."

"Time to be right for what?" Ashley asked walking closer to him and crossing her arms. Sirius stepped up behind her and held her from the back to stop her from getting any closer.

"To kill one of your children."

"What? S-Sirius, What is he on about?" Ashley asked, showing fear for the first time.

"Who? Harry, Lizzie, or Haley?" James asked shakily.

"All of them," Peter replied, looking into his eyes.

"Okay, Lily, write to Dumbledore and send the tape and tape recorder. He'll know what to do with it," Ashley said, looking flustered, surprised, and nervous, but she still managed to keep her voice calm. She looked at Peter just as viciously as her husband had. She sighed deeply, took a deep breath, and bound him to the chair he was on.

"Why, Peter?" Ashley said, stifling her tears.

"Because I wanted to be someone," he replied somberly. She looked at him as if she had never seen him before. She _almost_ felt a stab of sympathy. _Almost._

The five of them sat there, waiting to hear back from Dumbledore. All of them had their gazes fixed on one another. Many thoughts rushed through their head. At least they now knew the truth about almost everything.

**I hope you liked this chapter! I've actually been working on a Charmed/Harry Potter crossover for my next story. I'm equally obsessed with both! I was thinking of trying a Harry Potter/One Tree Hill crossover, but does that sound lame? I love One Tree Hill too! Haha please Review, I need some more reviews :**


	16. Dumbledore Steps In

**Woo, two chapters in a couple of hours, I'm on a roll. So is my story really _that_ bad that I get no reviews ? Aw well. Maybe the sequel will be a bigger hit. I'm turning this into a TRILOGY. It's the Past, Present, and Future. Past, being Marauder Era. Present being Harry, Ron, Hermione, etc. And future being _their_ kids and who they ended up with. Good idea?**

_**Dumbledore Steps In**_

About half an hour later, Ashley's owl swooped in through the window. Ashley jumped up in a flash, and grabbed the letter from the bird. Ashley was amazed by the speed of her owl. She figured Dumbledore must be pretty close by to have received the letter so quickly.

"Read it, Ash," James told her.

"_I have just finished listening to the recording you have sent me. I suppose our suspicions of Mr. Pettigrew have been true all along. Please tell all of your guests to leave. You four may stay, and you can tell Mr. and Mrs. Lupin to stay if you wish, but other than that, everybody must leave. When all of the guests have gone, write back to me and tell me so. I will aparate - or floo if you perfer - over as soon as I read your letter. I shall see you all soon. - Albus Dumbledore_," Ashley read breathlessly.

"What do you think he's going to do?" James wondered aloud.

"I dunno. Sirius - Please tell the guests to leave. But tell Alaina and Remus to stay behind," Ashley said faintly.

"Okay, darling," Sirius said. He kissed the top of her head, and left the room. They all listened as the guests left the house. When they were sure everybody had gone, they all made their way into the sitting room. The men carried Peter's chair downstairs. Ashley scribbled a quick letter to Dumbledore and sent her owl to him. While they waited, they filled Remus and Alaina in on everything. They were both amazed, and then crying sounded from Haley's room. Ashley went upstairs, and came back minutes later with Lizzie and Harry.

"I think Haley's coming down with something. I'm going to leave them all seperate for a while," Ashley explained, putting the twins in the playpen. She went back upstairs for Haley and put her in her cradle. Half an hour later, Dumbledore apparated into the sitting room with a man in dark robes at his side.

"Is he still under the Veritaserum?" Dumbledore asked tiredly.

"Yes, sir," Ashley replied.

"Are you a death eater, Mr. Pettigrew?" Dumbledore questioned the little man sitting before him.

"Yes."

"Very well. You may take him to Azkaban to await his trial, Woodward," Dumbledore said, nodding toward the man to his left. The man nodded back, grabbed Peter, and they were both gone with a _crack_.

"Now, we have to worry about yours and the childrens protection," Dumbledore said calmly. "Ashley, You said that in the future you saw, Sirius was blamed for something Peter had done. Peter is in Azkaban now, so Sirius will not be framed for anything."

"Yes, sir. But what about Lily and James? And the children?" Ashley said solemnly.

"Well, Peter led Lord Voldemort to you two. For now, I suggest that we move all of you to somewhere safe. And the safest place that I know is Hogwarts," Dumbledore said quietly.

"So, you want us to live at Hogwarts, sir?" Lily questioned.

"For the time being, yes," Dumbledore replied.

"But, Professor, In the future I saw, Lily gave her life to save Harry's. That happened here in Godric's Hollow. He'll be coming here, so the only wait to kill him is if we're here," Ashley said slowly, looking a bit overwhelmed.

"True. I guess the adults must remain here," Dumbledore whispered.

"I was reading about really old magic, and the book said that love can defeat anything. So, what I'm trying to say is...Is it possible Lily's love for Harry is what killed him?" Ashley asked Dumbledore.

"Very good, Mrs. Black. Love is indeed a strong possibility," Dumbledore agreed, nodding at her.

"So, with all that being said and all, if love was the only thing that killed him, how can we get rid of him without sacraficing Lily and James?" Ashley asked so quietly, you could barely hear her.

"When he comes for you, you must all be there. There is safety in numbers, you know. At the same time, you aim your wands, and use Avada Kedavra. When he least expects it," Dumbledore told them.

"We've changed the future so much already though, professor. I mean, in what I saw, Sirius and I had never even got married! Most of us were either dead or in Azkaban. How do we know that more changes won't effect us defeating him?" Ashley asked.

"I don't know, Ashley. But you are in no condition to duel with Lord Voldemort. You will have to be left out of his demise," Dumbledore told her, gazing at her stomach.

"But, I'm due in August and this all happens sometime in October!" Ashley retorted.

"Ah, but Peter being taken into custody may change the course of events. He may come earlier. But he will be looking for Harry, Lizzie, and Haley. Which is why I'm suggesting that I take them to Hogwarts, and you guys wait here. You are welcome to come everyday to visit, but I truly think they would be safest there. That way, when he does come, he can't harm the children, but you still have the oppritunity to destory him," Dumbledore said wisely.

"Okay, professor. I-I guess that would be best," Ashley said, looking ready to cry.

"You should go with them, Ashley," Sirius whispered.

"What are you on about?" Ashley asked, looking at him like he was delusional.

"I don't want to risk the baby's life. We can handle Voldemort. We'll probably all have to live together until he comes, that way we'll all be here to defeat him. But if he hurts you, he could kill the baby. I won't let that happen," Sirius said quietly, but firmly.

"He's right, Ashley," James agreed.

"This is all too much, but I'll do it...F-for the baby," Ashley said, looking down.

"This is good though, Ash. I mean - you can take care of the children, and we'll visit you everyday," Lily said, trying to cheer her up.

"I suppose you're right. Okay, I'll go. Maybe he'll still come in October so I can help out. He probably needs time to plan his attacks, right?" Ashley asked hopefully.

"Possibly. Just stay positive, Ash. We'll come by and see how you're doing tomorrow," Sirius said.

Ashley went upstairs to quickly pack her things. They all gave her a hug good-bye, and Sirius gave her a passionate kiss. "I love you, Ashley."

"I love you too, Sirius. I'll see you tomorrow." She, the children, and Dumbledore flooed to Hogwarts.

They landed in Dumbledore's office. "Professor - Do you live at Hogwarts?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes during the summers I go to a home of my own, but other times I stay here all year long," Dumbledore replied, and they walked out of the room.

"Doesn't it get lonely?" Ashley asked him, feeling a bit of pity.

"Sometimes. But the house elves are here all year, and so is Mr. Filch. I'll be giving you a room across the hall from me, just in case of an emergency. The current password to my office is Milky Way," Dumbledore said, showing her to her room. She thanked him, and he went to his office to sort through a few more things. He said if she got hungry and didn't feel like walking to the kitchens, she could just call for Breezy, a house-elf, and she would bring some food.

Ashley looked around her new room. It was quite large. There was a king sized bed with a canopy. The carpet and blankets were all red. There was a small step to go to her bed. To the right were book shelves, a closet, and a desk. To the left was a vanity, another closet, and a bathroom. Ashley walked into the left closet, which was half the size of her huge bedroom. She did some charm work, and made it into a perfect little room for the three children. She put them in there, and tucked them in for bed. She watched them sleep and found herself wondering why anybody would want to hurt such beautiful children.

And so the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months. Sirius, Lily, James, Alaina, and Remus came to visit each and every day. They talked about absolutely everything. There were no secrets anymore. All of them were completely honest with each other these days, and they were also more serious than usual. The six of them simply could not wait to get rid of Voldemort once and for all. They couldn't wait to feel free and not have to look over their shoulders all the time. Their kids could grow up in a world where there was no fear. Where there was nobody who was constantly threatening their lives. It was all a matter of time.

Finally August came. Ashley and Dumbledore pretty much had breakfast with each other almost every day. One day they were in the Great Hall eating and Ashley screamed in pain.

"What's the matter?" Dumbledore asked, rising.

"I - I think I'm gonna have a baby," Ashley replied, looking up at him. His eyes grew wide and he helped her to the fireplace. "Wait here for one moment. I'm going to get the children." Ashey nodded and waited. Moments later, he returned with the three-seater stroller. They all went into the fire and came out at St. Mungo's. In the blink of an eye, Ashley was led to a hospital room. "Please, Professor, Get Sirius!"

"I will, Ashley. Don't worry." When Ashley was taken into her room, Dumbledore apparated outside the Black's home. He rung the bell, and saw an eye peering at him from the peep hole. The door was unlocked, and Remus greeted him warmly.

"Hello, Professor. What brings you here?"

"Is Sirius here?" Dumbledore asked, looking around.

"Yes, he's in the kitchen," Remus replied, leading him in.

Everybody was in the kitchen. Lily, James, Sirius, and Alaina.

"Ashley's in labour."

Everybody's face gleamed with excitement and they all headed to the hospital.

"Sirius! Oh, thank god you're here!" Ashley said, giving him a hug. He kissed her forehead, and she smiled.

"I don't know what I would have done if I missed the birth," Sirius said, shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it. You're here, aren't you? That's all that ma-OWWW!" she screamed.

"Oh my. Those contractions are getting mighty close, eh?" the healer said.

"Hello, Mr. Black. I'm Rodina Appelbye. I'll be delivering your child," Rodina said, shaking his hand.

This woman seemed to be in her mid-fourties or early fifties. She had short white-blonde hair and beady brown eyes. She was short and plump with rosy cheeks, and a huge nose and ears. She looked elf-like.

"Hello," Sirius said, shaking her hand back. They were talking for a while, waiting for Ashley to be ready for delivery. Hours went by, and Lily, James, Remus, and Alaina were growing tired.

"OWW!"

"Oh, dear. Seems to me like somebody's ready for delivery. I'll be back in a jiffy," Rodina said cheerfully. She left the room and came back with two nurses. One was male, and he was extremely tall, bald, and had dark skin. The other one was short with pale skin She had long wavy blonde hair and green eyes. "This is Nurse Tiller and Nurse Hollace. Hollace is my daughter. They'll be wheeling you into delivery," Rodina said, her smile growing more with each and every word.

"Uh. Not that it's not a pleasure to meet you - But can you just get me into a freaking delivery room? Cause this kid is about to pop right out of me!" Ashley said in an extremely annoyed tone. Sirius couldn't resist a smirk, and without another word, Ashley was taken into the delivery room.

"What should we name her?" Sirius asked. Their daughter had been born, and now the six of them were in the room. Jessica and Jared were on their way, as were Josh and his girlfriend. Mr. and Mrs. Benedettis were currently in America, Hawaii to be exact, on vacation.

"Can we name her after my grandmother?" Ashley asked, looking at the baby.

"That depends. Her name wasn't something like Ethelda, was it?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

"Damn it, Sirius! Why can't we use Ethelda? It's a beautiful name," Ashley said sarcastically.

"Okay, so what was her name?" Sirius asked.

"Claudia."

"Hmm...That's a nice name. Claudia something Black," Sirius said.

"You pick the middle name," Ashley said, looking up at him.

"Well, the middle name can be after the woman I love most in the world," Sirius said, smiling down at her.

"Oh, Sirius, You're naming her after me? You shouldn't!" Alaina joked, smiling.

"Hmm...Sorry, Lainy. I kind of meant Ashley," Sirius replied.

"Oh, now my feelings are hurt in ways I can't decribe. I can hear my heart breaking as we speak," Alaina said, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye.

"I miss this," Ashley said quietly.

"Miss what?" Sirius asked, focusing his attention back to her.

"Joking around. Laughing," Ashley replied with a shrug.

"We all do," Sirius replied, putting his arm around her.


	17. Nothing Will Ever Be The Same

_**Nothing Will Ever Be The Same**_

Claudia Ashley Black grew very attached to Miss Ginevra Molly Weasley. They were by each other's side 24/7. Ashley was really glad that her daughter had a place to be so often because she didn't like the thought of the kids being in the house. Ashley was almost back to her original weight. She had ten more pounds to lose though. It was October 15th, and Ashley had sat down with Molly explaining what was going on, with Dumbledore's approval, of course. Molly was more than happy to watch Haley, Lizzie, Harry, and Lance. Ashley felt really guilty about pinning her with ten whole kids. Ashley really admired her and had no idea how she dealt with so many children. She knew she would be eternally gratetful to Molly.

Soon enough, it was the day before Halloween. Ashley, Sirius, Lily, James, Alaina, and Remus had the kids at Ashley and Sirius' house. They wanted to spend one day together incase anything happened to anybody. The women were crying and the men were even tearing up a bit. Alaina and Remus took Lance over to Molly's at around 9:00. Mr. Benedettis had come over to drop off some toys he bought for the girls. They were having some tea in the family room when they heard a noise. The five of them shot up and ran into the sitting room, and right before their very eyes, Lord Voldemort himself stood before them.

"Ashley - Lily - The children! Run!" Mr. Benedettis shouted. The girls sprinted to the sitting room, and stood before the crying children. Harry, Lizzie, and Haley were crying uncontrollably. But where was Claudia? "Lily! Where's Claudia?" Ashley shouted, running her hands through her hair furiously.

They could hear the men in the family room dueling. Voldemort had come with two death eaters. They heard Mr. Benedettis shout the killing curse, and one death eater was down. James yelled "Avada Kedavra" and with a flash of green light, the second death eater was dead. Now it was just Voldemort himself. Mr. Benedettis ran into the family room, and blocked the door. The killing curse hadn't been fired by Voldemort or any of the death eaters, but it was obvious that Sirius and James were knocked out.

"Step aside, you foolish old man!" Voldemort hissed at Ashley's father.

"No!" Mr. Benedettis cried, staring death in the face. Ashley felt tears forming in her eyes. She blinked them back though.

"Don't you see, you don't need to die you twit! Just move out of my way!" Voldemort was sparing him, and he held his ground.

"Never!" the man shouted bravely.

"Have it your way - AVADA KEDAVRA!" With another flash of green light, Mr. Benedettis was dead. And in a puff of smoke, Voldemort was gone.

"DAD!" Ashley sobbed, running over to her father. She held him, and cried like a two-year-old. Her father had died to spare her life, and the life of her children. He was a hero, and she loved him more than ever. "Daddy please! You c-can't die! I-I love you! NO!" Ashley was sobbing uncontrollably. This was the man who always stood by her side. The man who spoiled her rotten as a kid. The man who taught her wrong from right. He had always been there for her, and now he was just torn away. How was this in any way fair? It wasn't. It wasn't fair at all. Lily watched as Ashley clung onto her father. She felt tears brimming down her cheeks. Lily walked over to Ashley and wrapped her in a hug.

"It's going to be okay. Your father just saved the entire Wizarding World. He's a hero, and that's the best possible way to go," Lily said, brushing away her own tears. "I'm going to try and fix the guys. Then, I'll write Dumbledore. It's all going to be okay."

The ceremony was held three days later. All of Ashley's brothers and sisters were present. Her dad's friends and co-workers. Her own friends too. But even through all of the sadness, she stil lfelt relief. It was finally over. Voldemort was gone. The press was after everyone who was there that night. Ashley, Sirius, Lily, James, Haley, Lizzie, and Harry were all heros. After Dumbledore got there, Ashley had pulled herself together, and remembered that she couldn't find Claudia. Then, she fell apart all over again, claiming that he got her. When it reality, she was in the cradle in the family room.

Ashley knew that things would never be the same. Things had changed for the better, and she was glad that the children could grow up in a safe world. The effects of what happened on that fateful night were on the foreheads of the three children. Each one was branded with a lightning bolt shaped scar. Lily and Ashley had tried everything to get rid of it, but it became apparent that those scars were permanent.

In the end, Ashley realized that they had managed to change the future. She exchanged the lives of Lily, James, and Sirius and the well-being of the entire Wizarding World for the life of her father. Ashley hated to admit it, but it was a fair trade. She knew her dad would have deffinitely sacraficed himself for that. It was the kind of man he was, and Ashley would miss him terribly. But there was a whole world ahead of them, and Ashley was not going to live in the past. She was going to live in the present and make each day count.

The End.

**I'm done! So what did you think? I already wrote the first chapter of the sequel, so I'll create my new story as soon as this gets posted! I had a lot of fun writing this, so I'm kinda bummed that it's over, but hey, I have two more stories to write:**


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